Baghlan’s Department of Agriculture and Irrigation recently issued 20,000 collection bills to the province’s farmers in order to collect tithes and zakat.
According to department officials, farmers are obligated to pay fifty percent of their tithes and zakat to this department based on the distributed documents..
“We collect half a tithe. If someone harvests 700kg wheat, 70kg is the tithe. We take half of it, that is 35 kg,” said Nematullah, head of the Agriculture and Irrigation Department of Baghlan province.
Tithing, in the case of agriculture, means giving 10 percent of your yield.
However, in reaction to the Department of Agriculture’s decision, farmers in Baghlan province said that the drought in recent years have caused them enormous losses, making it difficult for them to pay significant tithes and zakat.
“We are the farmers who work hard. It is too difficult for us (the poor people) to pay 50 percent of our yield to the Islamic Emirate, it is very difficult for poor people,” said Zekrullah, a farmer.
“The farmers are the assets of the country. If farmers are provided with the opportunity to grow, they will also benefit other people,” said Habibullah, another farmer.
These concerns arise as figures from the Baghlan directorate of Agriculture and Irrigation show that the Taliban collected up to 89 million Afghanis in tithes and zakat from those areas under its control areas.
The Ministry of Finance says that it’s working on a plan to collect tithes and zakat from the eligible residents of the country.
Ahmad Wali Haqmal, spokesman of the Ministry of Finance, said that a joint committee has been set up to carry on this work which includes the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.
Haqmal added that in Islam, the important source of income and economy is tithes and zakat, saying that the details have not yet been clarified on how to collect them, and how to determine which individuals must qualify to pay.
“The joint committee was created by the Ministry of Finance, which includes the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture. Work has been started on its function and it has not been finalized yet,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
According to the plan of the Ministry of Finance, tithes will be taken from the landowners who have fertile lands and zakat will be collected from every Muslim who has the minimum amount and is obligated to give.
“If Zakat and tithes are collected in a modern and fundamental way, the government will be able to meet its normal budget without relying on global aid,” said Abdul Nasir Reshtia, an economist.
Meanwhile, a number of businessmen in the country say that if the Islamic Emirate distributes zakat money to destitute and deserving people, they will cooperate with them.
Yar Mohammad, a businessman, says that every year out of 100,000 Afghanis, he pays 2,500 of it to the poor and destitute people.
“We give our zakat to whoever comes, but one problem is that we ourselves have destitute people. We have problems, we have relatives, and zakat starts with relatives first,” he said.—Tolonews
