A fully grown pomegranate is shown during hands-on training for local farmers of Tagab District Jan. 26. The mission of Kapisa PRT is to help facilitate the local and national governments of Afghanistan working together to help provide for the development and security needs of the Afghan people. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyle Brasier)
02.05.2011 CJTF 101 Story by Master Sgt. Brian Bahret KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Members of the Kapisa Provincial Reconstruction Team joined members of Kentucky and Missouri Agribusiness Development Teams to conduct agricultural training for more than 70 local residents in a pomegranate orchard near the Tagab District Center Jan. 25–27.
“This training was a bigger success than we could have ever envisioned. We had hoped to be able to train around 30 farmers, but we were able to train over 70,” said Erik Jacob, U.S. Agency for International Development representative from Roseburg, Ore. “The government of Kapisa really stepped up to allow this training to happen.”
Throughout the training, local residents were able to learn
“By cutting out excess branches you force the tree to put more energy into the fruit and you will develop a higher quality fruit,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Garland Goodrich of Wakefield, Va., Kentucky ADT.
A farmer from the Tagab Valley demonstrates how to remove a branch from an overgrown pomegranate tree during hands-on training Jan. 27. The Kapisa Provincial Reconstruction Team joined members of Kentucky and Missouri Agribusiness Development Teams and French Army civil affairs to train local farmers in the Tagab Valley on proper pruning procedures to help them produce a greater yield of their fields. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyle Brasier)
“It was a very good training and we are very happy with it. We are farmers and we want someone to help us. We need to be taught how to reduce the diseases that damage our yield and how to increase the fruit that we produce. The training was amazing for me,” said a local farmer through an interpreter.
This training was conducted to help the farmers of Tagab understand practices that will better help the care of their gardens and trees. Most farmers weren’t familiar with proper pruning techniques to increase the yield of their orchards, Tagab District subgovernor Akhumzada explained. Through this training they’ve learned these things and their trees will produce very good fruit.
One of the concerns going into the training was that many of these people were farming the way they had been taught by generations of farmers before them.
“We are teaching them something that we think is basic but is completely foreign to them and may be greatly resisted at first,” said Jacob. “They are going to see trees that are large, bountiful and fruit-bearing and then prune them into a skinny, little, chopped-down version of that. The results are not immediate. It may take nine months before they see why we made it into these skinny trees.”
The farmers didn’t resist what they were being taught but embraced it.
“They were very involved; they started off quiet at the beginning of the training but became very involved with the hands-on section. They were very eager to learn about the pruning techniques,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Guadalupe Rios of Foley, Mo., Missouri ADT.
“This training has been in the works for over three months,” Jacob said. “Due to the improved security we were able to conduct it and we are hoping do conduct even more in the future.”
This training is part of a global pomegranate development project carried out by the stability operational office of French Task Force Lafayette. It consists of improving the pomegranate production in the Tagab Valley. There is a plan to install a storage warehouse and to sell products on the local market.
Kapisa PRT assists the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in providing a secure, stable environment for reconstruction efforts by increasing government officials’ capabilities and capacities. The Tagab pomegranate training project is an example of the development projects the PRT is using to connect the government to the people and to improve quality of life in the province.
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