Sholgara District

Sholgara (PerB|شولگره) is a district (pop:106 000) in the southern part of Balkh Province, Afghanistan. It is located at a crossroads between several districts, just south of Mazari Sharif (Mazar). It is commonly said that "who holds Sholgara, holds Mazar". [UNHCR District Profile, p. 1]

A former name of this district was Boyna Qara [Boyna Qara is also the name of a village in Badakhshan Province [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AF/1/Boyna_Qara.html "Boyna Qara" Fallingrain.com] ] (بوینه‌قره in Persian). This name was changed into Pashto during the Pashtunization policy of Vazir Muhammadgul Mohmand. [Kushan, Ghulam Hazrat (1999) سرگذشت ملت مظلوم افغانستان در مسير سدۀ بيستم : با فهرست سالهاى شاخص در تاريخ معاصر /Sarʹguz̲asht-i millat-i maẓlūm-i Afghānistān dar masīr-i sadah-ʼi bīstum : bā fihrist-i sālhā-yi shākhiṣ dar tārīkh-i muʻāṣir, Afghan American Association, Peshawar, pp 184-7, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/45335745 OCLC 45335745] ] ^{[Talk:Sholgara District#Name change| [contested]}

Economy

The economy is almost entirely agricultural. The Sholgar River irrigates some 40,000 jeribs (hectares) of land, and another two or three thousand are irrigated from springs. Although rainfall is low (120mm to 200mm a year), 150,000 jeribs are in dry farming, mostly wheat and some barley. Only 5% of the agriculture is in orchards.

Nonetheless, Sholgara District, along with Balkh District, are the sole producers of industrial products in Balkh Province. [http://www.ands.gov.af/ands/jcmb/site/src/Meeting%20and%20Documents/Sixth%20%20JCMB/pdfs/Eng/13-Balkh%20PDP%20for%20JCMB.pdf "Balkh Province Provincial Development Plan Draft" (15 July 2007) Afghanistan National Development Strategy] p. 18] In addition karakul skins are processed in Sholgara District.

Notes

Please be advised that a jerib (Afghanistan)of land is only 1/5 of a hectare, they are not synonous as noted in your text.

References

* [http://www.aims.org.af/afg/dist_profiles/unhcr_district_profiles/northern/balkh/dpSholgara_11_04_02.pdf UNHCR District Profile] , compiled 2002-04-11, accessed 2007-11-25 (PDF).