KABUL - A two-day United Nations-backed conference, which concluded in Kabul today, highlighted the need for placing agriculture at the core of Afghanistan's national strategy for economic growth and sustainable job creation.

Participants at the conference – organized jointly by the Government of Afghanistan, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank – also stressed the importance of providing vocational training to potential members of the workforce.

At a media encounter held at the end of the conference, the Afghan Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Amena Afzali, noted the role played by agriculture in government plans.

“The focus of the Government is on agriculture, followed by mine development and vocational training [for creating sustainable jobs in Afghanistan],” said Ms. Afzali, who also participated in the conference.

In comments made at the conference, the Minister of Economy, Abdul Hadi Arghandehwal, said the Government has already endorsed a four-year policy to place agriculture at the centre for creating job opportunities.

“I hope the new government, due to be elected next year, will follow these policies and the needs of the Afghan people,” the official said. Afghanistan is slated to hold a presidential election in April next year, marking an end to the second term of the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai. Also, in 2015, Afghanistan is due to hold elections for the National Assembly (‘Wolesi Jirga’).

Both of the ministers, as well as other speakers, said that at the root of the protracted war in Afghanistan was the lack of job opportunities.

“We all agree on the importance of jobs for peace,” said the World Bank’s chief economist for South Asia, Martin Rama, at the news conference.

In its 2012 report ‘Afghanistan: Time to Move to Sustainable Jobs,’ the ILO said that the Afghan economy is primarily reliant on the informal sector, including illicit activities, accounting to up to 90 per cent of the country’s total economic activity.

The same report said the labour market is dominated by the agricultural sector, followed by the service sector. It also said that almost 60 per cent of the Afghan workforce is employed in the agricultural sector.

There is no reliable data on current unemployment levels in Afghanistan. According to the ILO, even the available data is “as weak as it is controversial.” The National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment 2007/8 – which is jointly produced by the Government of Afghanistan and the European Union – found that the unemployment rate stands at over seven per cent.

“Taking the same rate and an estimated labour force of 11.59 million for 2012 would suggest that there are currently around 823,000 unemployed Afghans. These figures should be interpreted in the sense that the majority of people simply cannot afford to be unemployed,” ILO states in its 2012 report.

Calling the issue of unemployment “fundamental” in Afghanistan, ILO’s Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific region, Yoshiteru Uramoto, said that it needs a “coordinated national response.”

“We require information, which is lacking,” Mr. Uramoto said. “Labour market information system should be improved so that we can plan better.”

In its 2012 report, ILO also stated that more than 400,000 Afghan youth enter the labour market every year and the country has “an increasing need to generate employment opportunities for its new labour market entrants, along with those who are already un- or under-employed.”

In a message delivered on his behalf to the opening ceremony of the conference yesterday, President Karzai said the country can be more self-reliant economically by creating more jobs. The message added that a commission has been assigned to design job creation programmes.