Photo By Master Sgt. Warren Wright | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Ward, a member of the Tennessee Agri-business Development...... read more read more
In the 1970's, Afghanistan was a major exporter of produce, but since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the subsequent Taliban rule, Afghanistan's agriculture has decreased to almost nothing. The country once exported about 60 percent of their apple crops and a vast majority of other produce, now they import much of their produce from Pakistan and other countries.
The Department of Defense realized Afghanistan as a nation will never recover unless they develop an economy based on Agriculture that is self sustaining, said U.S. Army Maj. James W. Thompson, an engineering advisor from the Tennessee Agri-business Development Team.
That is when the DoD started the Agri-business Development Teams in Afghanistan through the Army National Guard. Their primary mission is to help the Afghans rebuild their agriculture infrastructure.
The ADT program is about two years old. It started with just a handful of states in the first year, and now has 14 states, said Thompson, a native of Louisville, Ky.
The team that has the responsibility for the Paktya province, and parts of western Paktika province is the Tenn. ADT. They are a team of all volunteers from the Tennessee Army National Guard. The team is comprised of 12 Soldiers with an agriculture background, and an Army security force team to provide security for the specialists.
Afghanistan is about 100 years behind the United States in agriculture production, said Sgt. Robert Moore, the agronomist specialist for the team. They have suffered major losses in the agriculture production due to about three decades of war.
The team helps Afghans rebuild the agriculture by implementing various projects. They do this by doing assessments; finding out what each district needs, and then help mitigate those needs.
"We try to figure out how we can help best improve what they already have," Thompson said.
The team currently has about 35 different projects being worked to help the Afghan's rebuild their agriculture infrastructure, said Thompson.
These projects range from building new greenhouses, to rechanneling waterways for irrigation, to expanding the beekeeping industry that is vital to the pollination of plants, said Moore, a native of Lavinia, Tenn.
The projects currently taking place in Paktya province will add to the quality of life for Afghans as well as increase income and revitalize part of the agriculture sector, Moore added.
However, with most of these projects, people will not be able to see a change right away. "Future ADT's will come behind us and continue with those, as well as start their own projects with the assessments we've done."
Several of the established projects will take between two and three years to see any change, the projects are designed to have a long-term affect, Thompson said.
"I do believe that the mission of the ADT is the main effort for the success for Afghanistan," Thompson added.
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2009 04:13 |
| Story ID: | 38767 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 365 |
| Downloads: | 315 |
This work, Tennessee Agri-business Development Team brings agri-business experience to Afghanistan, by MSG Warren Wright, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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