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Afghan official takes St. Louis biotech tour in Guard-sponsored visit
By: Bill Phelan
Missouri National Guard Public Affairs
ST. LOUIS - Optimism can be hard to come by in a country ravaged by 30 years of war, but that is exactly what the agriculture director of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province Province expressed for his country during a weeklong visit to Missouri.
Safi Mohammed Hussein recently visited the state at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond. The Missouri National Guard, which has maintained a Agri-Business Development Teams in Nangarhar Province since fall 2007, hosted the director during his stay.
First launched in fall 2007, the Agri-Business Development Teams consist of soil, irrigation, crop and livestock specialists whose mission is to improve agricultural production and profitability in the province. Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Schulte was part of an advance team who was assigned the task of assessing the challenges facing Afghanistan’s agricultural outlook.
“Afghanistan used to export fruits and nuts, but 30 years of war destroyed everything they exported,” Schulte said. “They’ve had no treatment of the soil for 30 years. Their irrigation systems were all destroyed. They’ve had no reforestation in three decades. Their road network is terrible or non-existent.
“After the Soviet invasion the Soviets made the Afghans dependent upon them for food.”
Despite the overwhelming odds against the teams, Schulte said the Guardsmen have made a real difference in the province.
“Three years ago Nangarhar was the second largest producer of opium poppies in the country,” Schulte said. “Last year, the United Nations declared the province poppie-free.
“Crop production of wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables and nuts is up 25 percent this year in a place where the Taliban used to have a fixed market for opium poppies.”
While acknowledging that there is still a long way to go, Safi said the agricultural strides made in Nangarhar cannot be overstated.
“Food is security,” Safi said through an interpreter. “When you provide people with food you get security and you encourage framers farmers to grow profitable crops instead of poppies.”
The province’s agriculture industry has grown by leaps and bounds with Missouri’s help.
“We now have the first provincial lab for soil analysis,” Safi said. “We have a veterinary pharmacy and a month ago we opened eight veterinary clinics. We have livestock management and a decent slaughtering facility and an artificial insemination clinic. We now have tractors, seed planters and four combines. We have people working on watershed management and we’re working on greenhouses. We’re establishing root cellars and planting trees.
“All this makes the people very happy and they want more.”
Safi praised the work of the Missouri National Guard in Afghanistan saying his people are “honored” to have them.
“We are working as team,” he said. “They are sharing their knowledge with me and with the people and we are implementing an agricultural program that is creating jobs.”
While in St. Louis, Safi toured the campus of biotech giant Monsanto and the Danforth Plant Science Center. Plant Science Center President Roger Beachy expressed hope that biotechnology could be the answer to Afghanistan’s agricultural future.
“We understand that a well-fed society is one that has more wealth and a society that has more wealth is one that has more social stability,” he said. “Afghanistan has limited water resources and very poor soil. The kind of work we do at the Danforth Center is aimed in those directions, so we want to play a role in helping them grow crops with what they have.
“The answer isn’t to send them our corn and soybeans to eat. The answer is to help them grow valuable crops as food instead of alternative crops they might be growing now, Beachy said.”
For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please call 1-888-GoGuard or visit www.moguard.com.
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Posted: 8/24/2009 1:03:58 PM
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