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Paktya_Province_Reference_Map_DD_20140209FEB09_A0.pdfPaktia Provincial Overview
Paktia Provincial Overview
The Paktia Provincial Profile uses information and data from the Socio-Economic and Demographic Survey from 2003-2005 and subsequent reports. This survey was conducted by the Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP).
The survey appears to be a pre-cursor to the broad implementation of the similarly named Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey (SDES) which commenced in 2011 and were used for the other provinces in the Provincial Overviews. The provincial information from the survey was cross-referenced and compared with findings from Samuel Hall’s six provincial community profiles. The cross-reference helped consolidate and validate much of the initial data gathered in the Community Profiles and provided a provincial-level counterpoint to the community and household-level research conducted in the Community Profiles. The need for the Community Profiles was especially prevalent when considering the CSO/UNFP survey was conducted from 2003-2005, which also means much of the information found below should have the caveat it may be severely out of date.
Provincial Overview
Paktia Province is located in eastern Afghanistan. Most of the province is mountainous. Paktia has a colder climate and much of the province is covered by forest. The most common crops grown in Paktia are wheat, maize, rice, and potato and most people have dairy cows, sheep, goats and chickens. Forestry is another source of income as people sell wood to other provinces and to Kabul city, especially during winter. Paktia shares a border with Pakistan in the east, Nangahar in the north-east, Khost in the south-east, Paktika in the south-west, Ghazni in the west and Logar to the north.
Provincial Demographics
Paktia has a population upwards of 515,000 with an average of 6.9 persons per household. The vast majority (95.5%) live in rural areas. Gardez, the provincial capital and only urban centre had a population of 23,085 in 2008. The three communities Samuel Hall are conducting research with in Gardez district are located around the town. While community members often commute to the town centre to run shops or to work as labourers, drivers or for the government, the majority work in agriculture even when located close to Gardez centre. The province is predominantly Pashtun, with a small Tajik population.
Paktia is dominated by large villages. Out of 784 villages surveyed in 2008 by the CSO-UNFP, 161 (more than one fifth) had populations of 1000 or more. The Chamkani district, where two communities being researched are located, has the highest population density in Paktia with 204 people per km/2. Dand Patel has 159 people per/km2, and Gardez 98 people per/km2.
Primary schools only existed in 105 villages out of 784 in the CSO study (less than 14%), secondary schools in 51 (6.5%) and high schools in 29 (3.7%). Rural schools exist in 122 of the villages surveyed. Health centres are even more difficult to access than schools, present in only 5% of villages in Paktia.
While 98% of the population had access to a radio, only 7% had access to a television in 2008.
Paktia economic overview
Chamkani has a large proportion of villages compared to the whole province producing rice (68%). Corn is concentrated in 4 provinces, Chamkani being one of them. Chamkani also has the largest proportion of villages producing fruit, and the only district in Paktia that registered orange production at the time of the CSO study
Dand Patan stood out in terms of egg production.
There were only 2 industrial poultry/livestock farms in the whole province of Paktia in 2008, one in Gardez and one in Chamkani. The Community Profiles indicated that there may be a proliferation of smaller-scale poultry and egg farms in places like Chamkani and Dand Patel.
Small scale industry
Small industries are very scarce in Paktia, only existing in 113 out of the 784 villages surveyed in the CSO study. 110 villages produce honey, including a proportion of villages in Chamkani.
Jewellery and shawls were produced in 112 villages. Chamkani counted amongst three districts that were the main producers of jewellery (with 22 villages).
Gardez had 99 hotels/restaurants and Chamkani 27 at the time of the CSO study in 2008 (out of 186 total in Paktia). Food and grocery stores were the most popular business in Paktia with 1 for every 261 people. There were 560 clothing and textile stores in the province (299 in Gardez), and 156 construction material shops (73 in Gardez).
There were 29 barbers and beauty salons, but it appeared that barbers tended to move from one place to the next following weekly markets or home-to-home demand.
Central Statistics Organization (CSO) and UNFPA, Paktya Social-Demographic and Economic Survey, 2014, available at: http://afghanag.ucdavis.edu/country-info/province/files/All-Paktya.pdf
UC Davis, Paktia Province overview, 2011, available at: http://afghanag.ucdavis.edu/country-info/province/files/All-Paktya.pdf
UC Davis, Paktya Afghan Agriculture, 2013, available at: http://afghanag.ucdavis.edu/country-info/province/Paktya
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