A Horticulturist in Kabul

It's Not War, It's "Kinetic Activity"

2009-09-25T16:20:00.006+04:30

I learnt a new term last week - "Kinetic Activity". This is the term used by the US to describe the fighting/counter insurgency activities going on here. So in future, we shall not refer to it as the War in Afghanistan, but the Kinetic Activity in Afghanistan!

Anyway, the reason I came across this term is that I have been providing input to a new program that aims to build stability and economic development in "post-Kinetic" areas of the country. The thrust behind this is that once an area has been stabilised through military activity, a team of local experts move in to develop work programs, infrastructure improvements, health, education etc - anything that helps to stabilise the region long term.

This is in response to a lot of criticism levelled at the national and international forces that once an area has been secured, everyone moves onto the next hot spot. The vacuum left behind encourages anti-government groups to re-establish, starting the whole cycle again. It sounds obvious, but up until now this has not been a clear part of the planning.

With agriculture making up the largest sector of rural employment, the Ministry is putting together a program that can be implemented in the first 100 days after security improves, and then some further long-term actions after this. This will concentrate on training farmers as well as providing basic inputs including tools and fertilisers. There will also be a strong focus on veterinary services, and a poultry program to assist female farmers.

How successful this program will be depends on the support it receives from international donors, as well as the military, but we are all hopeful this is a significant step in the right direction. And we will know soon enough, with the first 5 districts selected and plans to get activities on the ground already well advanced.

Just an update

2009-09-09T19:27:00.003+04:30

It has been a while since I updated things from Kabul, so I thought a brief thought was in order!
The main reason for no updates is that I have just had a month holiday back in Sweden - it was great to get away and not think too much about things back here.
The latest news is that it looks like Hamid Karzai has comfortably won re-election. Opinions are divided as to whether this is a good thing or not, but from the perspective of our project, the main concern is whether the result will be accepted by everyone, and if not, how much violence will result? On top of that, there was the air strike on two petrol tankers in Kunduz (one of our areas) that killed some civilians and has caused a lot of anger amongst the locals.
Despite some of these issues, we continue to make good progress with horticultural developments.
We are currently collecting interest from farmers for planting new orchards in Autumn. One of the key issues we faced was setting a price for the new orchards. We heavily subsidise the cost to the farmer, but there is some disagreement on how much farmers can afford. I proposed a higher cost, based on the belief that it is the almost 'economic' farmers we should be targeting - the ones who just need little help to become commercially viable. The quality of the trees we are providing is also excellent, and we provide technical support as well as fertilisers and some annual crop seed (for cash flow).
However, it was decided after much consultation that we would aim a little lower. We are charging around $50 for 0.2 of a hectare, which is about 20% or less of the actual cost.
The response so far from farmers has been excellent, which may suggest the price is too low??
Either way, we need to plant 1,700 hectares by March 2010, so no matter what the price, we are going to be busy!

Lost in the Big Picture?

2009-07-28T15:38:00.002+04:30

I have to say the Australian media are a pretty negative bunch! The general tone in a few recent articles seems to be that it is all a bit hard in Afghanistan, and Australia should get the hell out of here.

Of course it is easy to give up on a situation as complex as Afghanistan. The list of problems seems insurmountable - difficult war with too many casualties, hopeless security, corrupt government, terrible infrastructure, environmental problems, appalling land water and air pollution, overwhelming poverty, oppression of women and minorities, poor education, lack of even basic health services etc etc.

For more than 30 years, the country has gone backwards. How many years will it take to start going in the right direction is anybody's guess, but the only way to make sense of such a mess is to look at the micro scale, and how individual lives can be improved. The number of projects and activities here aimed at improving the day to day lives of the locals has to ultimately add up to something.

In this blog I have mentioned a few individuals we have helped, like the Taliban commander now turned nursery grower. But it is also the people employed by the project, many of whom without the money and opportunity from this and similar projects would be in extreme poverty or left the country altogether. One young guy who lived in Iran for most of his life and returned to Kabul in 2005 was telling me that he can't believe the improvement in his life and life in general over the last 4 years. There is no doubt Kabul is far ahead of most parts of the country - but one step at a time!

So I will continue to remain positive - partly as it is the only way to make sense of being so far from home!

And this is where I will comment on the military activities in Afghanistan, without which the humanitarian work is basically impossible - the two go hand in hand. I am no fan of war or military activity, but sometimes it is necessary to allow good things to happen.

Let me give you the example of Kunduz, a province in the north of the country. 3 months ago I went there and visited lots of our project sites (the photo on this blog of the Afghans all trying to pay for the fish is from Kunduz). However, the area has a strong Taliban group, and due to a low military presence, the area has now become so unsafe we cannot travel there. Kidnappings and roadside bombs are common, and there is nightly gunfire and fighting. Until the security improves, we cannot help the hundreds of farming families in that area we had been working with until recently.

Banks & Bullets

2009-06-26T14:03:00.002+04:30

Our project is funded through the World Bank, and we are currently hosting a review mission of bank staff and consultants. This is a very important visit as it is not only looking at our performance so far, but also assessing the project for an extension beyond December this year.

We took a team of 10 or so Bank representatives to the field for 5 days of activities. This was extremely useful, and not only showed them what we have achieved but also gave them an insight into the challenges the project staff face trying to get improved management practices out to more than 30,000 farming households! I think the whole team enjoyed the trip and came back with some positive messages. One great story came from an NGO we work with who told of the success of some of the female farmer groups. Women have few opportunities to socialise outside the family, but meeting to discuss horticulture and farming practices has given women in remote villages the opportunity to meet and interact in ways they could not previously manage. This has had two major impacts, firstly cooperation and help between women has increased markedly (an example was sharing produce when one family was in trouble due to flood damage in their garden). A second impact reported to us was improvements in their family and home life, as they now brought home ideas and knowledge on how to improve household income - a major change for many of them.

This trip was not all good news though. The car I was travelling in was shot at by a military convoy when they felt we were too close to them (we weren't!!). It was only a warning shot, and no harm was done, but it reminds me that perhaps calling Afghanistan a 'post-conflict' country may be a little premature!

New Orchards & Taliban Options

2009-05-22T09:19:00.005+04:30

We have completed distribution of 330,000 young trees and vines, with just over 3,600 household receiving trees. I have visited maybe 100 of these new orchards in the last 2 weeks, and generally they look pretty good. The weather has also been kind to us, with mild temperatures and plenty of rain. In fact, our biggest problem has been too much rain, with around 50 orchards damaged in the last 2 weeks due to storms!

Visiting these orchards made me realise just how many of these farmers need the help we are providing. It is not just the financial issues and limited access to credit, but the level of skill in orchard establishment is extremely low. Through such a long period of war and conflict, there has been virtually no improvement in horticulture in that time. We are training farmers on what in developed countries would be considered the basic skills of horticulture. The farmers we are dealing with so far are the ones willing to try something 'new', but already the word is spreading with many other farmers approaching us during the field trip to be part of the program next year. With up to 1.2 million trees to plant next year, we can certainly accommodate many of them.

One farmer I met had a small nursery growing mainly vines for us last year, but has expanded this season to begin supplying not only our program but other farmers in his district. The amazing part of the story is that he was formerly a Taliban commander, but after seeing the opportunities in horticulture he has left that behind him. As he said, this program gave him an alternative! So when we hear our political leaders talking about the need to invest in countries like Afghanistan to win the 'hearts and minds' battle as well as the military battle to stop terrorism and insurgency - it is sometimes true!

Afghan Hospitality

2009-05-15T18:49:00.006+04:30

I have just got back to Kabul after a tour of northern Afghanistan, and wanted to write a quick comment on Afghan hospitality. We visited many farms in an 8 day period, and wherever we went we were offered tea, milk, tea, almonds, lollies, bread, more tea etc., and were asked to lunch or dinner at almost every place we stopped. Unfortunately, due to either time pressure or security reasons we could not stop at many places.

One morning we set out very early and I missed breakfast. After several hours on the road, we visited one farmer and when he found out I had no breakfast he ordered his young son to go to the house and get some yoghurt and bread for me. Once I was served (see photo!) more bread, yoghurt and tea (of course) was brought out and we had a little feast in the vineyard!

At other places we ate at restaurants and I was absolutely not allowed to pay - even though many of these people do not earn a lot of money. We visited one fish restaurant and afterwards I was sent away while the locals fought over who would pay! The photo shows 4 of them all demanding the shop keeper to take their money!

A Comment on Women!

2009-04-06T19:42:00.004+04:30

Afghanistan and the role of women in the society has been making a big splash in the international media in the last week or so, thanks to some legislation that by most standards is pretty anti-women. I am not going to pretend to be an expert in the incredibly complex area of gender equality, or individual rights versus group think, but I do have some comments on the activities our project is undertaking in gender equality.
Women often have a central role in food production of traditional households, mostly in kitchen gardens and livestock - especially poultry. This role is being supported by a number of projects in Afghanistan, but our project has moved beyond these usual topics.
Under our project, we have organised 'Horticulture Interest Groups' of male farmers - basically a self help group of up to 25 farmers who gather to learn and share knowledge. Alongside these male groups, the project has supported the development of equivalent female groups, and have been surprised at the level of acceptance, enthusiasm and interest this has generated.
In the last month or so, the project has provided 150 female farmers with enough saplings to establish a small commercial orchard, as well as providing the groups with other farm inputs and training so they can operate their own demonstration sites.
It is a small start, but amongst all the bad news, it is a great example of a successful program that we hope will grow and expand over the coming seasons.

Planting Season

2009-03-10T10:56:00.003+04:30

The snow has cleared and the weather has warmed up, and our project has moved into an exciting phase in its development. We are currently distributing planting material in the northern and central regions of the country. The aim is to establish around 700 hectares of new almond, apricot, pomegranate and grape plantings.

The average size of each new planting is less than 1 jerib (5 jeribs equals 1 hectare), so it means the project is supporting at least 3,000 farming households. However, even such a small new orchard can change the future capacity of each farm to become sustainable.
I visited several nurseries this past week to check on the quality of the planting material we are distributing, and it is generally excellent. The photo shows almond and apricot saplings ready to be dug up and transported to farmers.
The project also has a network of more than 150 field staff who are working with the farmers to ensure new plantings survive and thrive!

I and a number of international experts will visit many of these farmers in the coming months to pass on modern growing techniques and ideas. The mixing of traditional farming systems and modern techniques will be one of the challenges we face.

Development Amongst the Debris

2009-02-14T11:40:00.005+04:30

I have just spent a couple of days in the Panjshir Valley, north of Kabul. This place has a pretty amazing history, showing strong defiance against both the Soviet occupation as well as the Taliban. The valley is littered with the debris of Soviet and Taliban battles - tanks and cannons, shells and even the odd helicopter lie desolate in the fields and river bed. The people revere the leader of this resitance, Massoud, above all other Afghans. Visiting the massive shrine being constructed in his honour indicates the depth of this passion.

But between the imposing and snow covered mountains, there is a new industry taking shape - tree fruits & nuts.

Hundreds of farmers are turning to the commercial potential of the high value fruits and nuts that have traditionally only been part of each family's kitchen garden. New orchards are springing up all along the fertile slopes that feed into the Panjshir River. Young horticulturists see a future in this industry, and are developing new orchards and even tree nurseries to supply the valley and beyond.

We were told stories of farmers who for the first time last year took their fruit to markets instead of letting it fall on the orchard floor. We also saw the high fences around the few older orchards in the valley. These used to be needed to stop people stealing the fruit, but there are now so many orchards that these are no longer needed. Why steal other's fruit when you have your own orchard?

This valley, that is central to recent Afghan history, is also showing what can be achieved with a little outside help and a lot of local passion.

Afghanistan has a long way to go to achieve peace and prosperity, but there are signs of success all over the country, including in this narrow valley called Panjshir.

Grapes in Afghanistan

2009-02-06T13:51:00.002+04:30

30 years ago, Afghanistan was known for the quality of its horticultural products. Now it is known for lots of things, but grapes is not one of them.
It should be!
The quality that can be achieved for fresh and dried grapes is as good as anywhere in the world. The dried Shindokhani grapes, a local variety that is claimed to be the origin of the Thompson Seedless, are about the best dried grapes I have ever tasted! As a fresh grape, they are spectacular also.
It is also interesting to note that those growers achieving good quality production are receiving prices better than Australian growers (or most other growers around the world!) Prices of around $3 per kilogram, ungraded, are being achieved. And the grower doesn't have to pay for harvesting or transprot to market. So that is $3 a kilogram on the vine!
So why are so many grape growers still doing it really tough? Lots of reasons, but the problem is production. Whilst prices are good, growing 2 to 3 kilograms per vine and having small acreage makes gross revenue insufficent to live sustainably.
Still, those growers who have been able to invest in new trellising, irrigation and better management are reaping the benefits. The challenge for the country is to get more growers into that category.
A number of projects are working on this issue, including the project I am involved with, as well as USAID projects, and NGO's, including Roots of Peace.
So, hopefully in the near future, Afghan raisins will once again take centre stage in high value world food markets!

Introduction to this blog

2009-01-13T10:17:00.000+04:30

The aim of this blog is to share my thoughts on agriculture, in particular horticulture, during my time in Afghanistan.

Agriculture in broad terms contributes about half of GDP for the country, and two thirds of employment.

If we look deeper into this though, 35% of all farmers also cultivate poppies for opium production. Afghanistan provides more than three quarters of the world's opium, and depending on which figures you review, it contributes as much as a third of total GDP in the country and employs one in five people.

Despite the obvious barriers to reducing this reliance on poppies, a thriving agriculture sector is essential to reducing poverty and hunger, increase food security and drive economic growth. It is not an exaggeration to say that the long term peace and even survival of Afghanistan relies heavily on a successful agricultural economy.

So, I hope to provide through this blog a different perspective on Afghanistan than the media gives. Agriculture does rate a mention in the press from time to time, but normally on about Page 20 in small font!

Please feel free to send through any comments you may have!

Stuart.