KUNAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN - Members of the Illinois Army National Guard's 1-14th Agribusiness Development Team conducted a mission Aug. 2 to Asadabad in Kunar Province to view a demonstration farm sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The farm is part of a USAID project known as Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives-North, East, West. The IDEA-NEW project exists to provide Afghan farmers with licit agricultural alternatives to poppy production.
The 1-14th ADT conducted the mission to evaluate management and operational techniques which may benefit its own demonstration farms and maximize the benefits of those farms to the agricultural economy of Kunar Province.
Army Spec. Alan McFalls, a forestry expert with the 1-14th ADT, said the team was looking for specific, repeatable practices.
"During our visit to the demo farm, we were looking for different planting and field preparation techniques," McFalls said. "We also wanted to obtain information about the productivity of their fields, pest problems, seed sources, chemicals used and the different crops that they were successful in producing."
McFalls said the team saw several practices that could be utilized at other demonstration farms.
"We were impressed with their use of hand tools and string to measure the specific growing plots used to produce crops," he said. "The raised, two-foot wide beds were level and proportional throughout the length of the fields. The irrigation channels between the beds were also very precise and the crops were planted on the outside edge of the beds to promote optimal water absorbency."
Kyle Scott, a USAID representative who participated in the assessment, said farmers are able to utilize the property through one-year contracts with USAID.
Scott said farmers are required to pay 60 percent of the initial seed and fertilizer cost, but are allowed to keep 100 percent of the profits from their crops. He said USAID also purchases additional items, such as pesticides, from local suppliers, as needed.
Farmers plant specific crops at specific times to keep the farm productive throughout as much of the year as possible. This enables training events to be conducted on the farm throughout the year.
Scott said this rotation is one reason he considers the farm a success.
"The variety of vegetables planted and the phased-in planting enables many groups of farmers to visit over the life cycle, from planting to harvesting," he said. "Also, the diversity of spring, summer and fall crops, as well as soil maintenance were highlights and are worth replicating."
Army Capt. Larry Fuller, an engineer for the 1-14th ADT, said his team learned from the visit and said missions like this are valuable for everyone involved.
"There are enough government and private organizations working agricultural issues in Kunar that many of the problems we're researching are already being resolved," Fuller said. "It is in the best interest of the people of Afghanistan and America that each organization shares their working practices with each other. This will help avoid duplicate tasks being done and crossover of funding, and help end repeated failures by different organizations."
The 1-14th ADT continues to work with GIRoA officials, as well as nongovernmental agencies to increase the value and sustainability of the agricultural economy in Kunar Province.