FRANKFORT, KY - Afghanistan is roughly 8,000 miles away from Kentucky and on the surface seems to have little in common with the Bluegrass state.
That is all about to change, at least from an agricultural standpoint. A group from the Kentucky National Guard is about to embark on a training mission of sorts to help bring the two worlds a little closer by helping farmers on the other side of the world learn more about agriculture sustainability and marketing.
The Kentucky Agribusiness Development Team (KADT) is comprised of specialists from the Army and Air Guard who will take successful techniques learned here to the Afghan people in hopes of bringing their agricultural endeavors into the 21st century.
Agriculture plays a major role in that country already, being the main source of income for 70 percent of the population as pointed out by Kentucky Adjutant General Edward W. Tonini during a recent send-off ceremony held for the unit.
"By helping re-establish and invigorate the Afghan farming tradition and rebuilding the agricultural infrastructure, these troops will bring stability to an otherwise war-torn nation," he said. "I believe success in this mission can and will make the world a better place for everyone."
Major John Holmes is the executive officer for the group and said this mission will help farmers there improve their abilities to grow food using the resources that are in place. The team will concentrate on many areas including improving livestock and forage as well as marketing.
"The team has been designed to go into Afghanistan with the sole purpose of helping Afghanis improve their farming techniques," he said. "Right now their farming is somewhere around where Kentucky was in the early 1800's."
The farmers there have little in the way of mechanized machinery Holmes said. They use mostly animal-drawn plows and even though there are some tractors to be found, they don't have the resources to keep them running.
The KADT will be stationed in an area where the elevation is about 6,000 feet with good black dirt as Holmes put it. Getting the best use out of it however, is a different matter.
"The dirt is good and will grow just about anything it needs to, they just don't know how to manage it," he said. "That is where we come into play. We'll go out to the local farms and universities to see how they are doing things and give them suggestions to improve their operations." Holmes said the key to success is to introduce sustainability. "It is not our business to bring in big tractors that they can't maintain or they don't have the diesel to run continually. Our job is to tweak what they've got and improve their production."
As people here sit in their living rooms and see only desert regions of the country on television and how barren the country appears to be, there is much that can be done to improve agriculture in all parts of the country.
"Another thing we're trying to do is match up their geographic regional base to the things they grow," said Holmes. "We've got enough agricultural knowledge in the Kentucky National Guard, both Army and Air Guard that will help us do what we need to do."
That knowledge comes from a variety of people including agronomists, animal scientists and marketing specialists. The group even includes a veterinarian from the University of Kentucky's pathology department. The idea of working with Afghan farmers began three years ago with one unit working in one province. The following year, the project expanded into three and this year it will again expand into five teams. This will be Kentucky Guard members' first involvement in the endeavor, all of which volunteered for the mission.
One of the biggest initiatives for the unit will be to work with ag officials at Afghan universities as to train them so they may teach farmers.
"There are three universities in our area that we will be working with," said Holmes. "I have been in agriculture for about 15 to 20 years and I know if a farmer sees a good way of doing something, and sees it's going to make him a profit, he's going to adopt that method. So, that's really where we're going with this. The Afghanis are very receptive to our ideas but like any farmer, they want to see what the bottom line is before they change the way they do business."
Many of the Afghanis already work within a "farmers' market" atmosphere but storage has been a problem for them, so much of what they grow is being sold to Pakistan and India at deflated prices Holmes added. Months later, after the Afghans have gone through what little they could store, they are buying back from those two countries only at inflated prices creating a loss of a lot of money.
Injecting simple things into the farm economy like corn cribs or grain bins could help producers in the long run allowing them to maximize their net gain he said. Soybeans may also be introduced to the farmers as a way to supplement and improve the diets of Afghanis.
Some similarities already exist between Afghanistan and Kentucky agriculture. Afghan farmers double crop corn backed by winter wheat, the two being food staples in that country. Something else familiar there is a large presence vineyards. The KADT will be located in an area that has several, many with outstanding vines, some 40 or 50 years old according to Holmes. Because the use of wine had been banned by the Taliban, introducing vineyards back into the agricultural community will be another item on the to-do list.
Another project, the team will be heavily involved in is called the Women's Empowerment Program, in which members will work with Afghani women in niche markets such as beekeeping and high-dollar herbs as a way for them to make money.
"Women can't own land in Afghanistan so we have to work around some of the cultural stigmas and get done what we need to get done," said Holmes.
The concept of helping farmers in other countries isn't new to the Army as similar programs have been in place for about 20 years in places like South America.
"We've had some experiences before trying to improve the quality of life in different areas and Afghanistan is just a place right now that really needs our help. If we can get them to where they can sustain themselves and feed their families, the outlook for Afghanistan is unbelievably positive," Holmes said.
DAPT, which consist of approximately 64 people, is still in Indiana for training and will be deployed for about a year. The unit however will be followed by another group from Kentucky that will continue the same work meaning the project will not lose any forward progression. "Agriculture plays such an important part in feeding people and is really the basis for everything we have and we want to share that with people that aren't as fortunate as we are," said Holmes. "Everybody on this team is excited about bringing our knowledge and our information to Afghanistan and helping to build a nation."