Some schemes were operated under private land ownership agreements, while others were operated as state farms where land ownership was deeded to the State. Rehabilitation costs for large, modern schemes, including main structures, are considerably higher. Cropping intensity varies widely from system to system according to the relative scarcity of water in relation to land. Per caput wheat consumption in Afghanistan is one of the highest in the world. About 1 million ha of wheat was irrigated in 1990, although the 1978 figure may be as high as 1.3 million ha, and irrigated yields are estimated to be 3 times rainfed yields.
Floods are generally violent and can cause serious damage to agricultural land or inhabited areas.
About 50 gabion river protection works and 50 flood protection masonry walls were constructed before the war, mostly in the Nangarhar and Parwan provinces, in the eastern part of the country. The Central Authority for Water and Sewerage is responsible for the urban water supply and sanitation, under the aegis of the Central Authority for Housing and Town Planning, while the Ministry of Rural Development and Rehabilitation is responsible for the rural water supply. The Ministry of Water and Power was formed in 1988 as the merger of the former separate Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources and the Ministry of Power. It is in charge of the hydrological network, the development of water resources and of large-scale and modern irrigation systems, especially of diversion structures on the rivers and main canals. The Ministry's Department of Water Management is operational in most provinces.