Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm not an agricultural expert but it's my understanding the corn is for feed. Fertilizer is a commodity that we are introducing; traditional Afghan fertilizer has consisted largely of human waste. Water itself isn't a problem- it's the movement of water that is problematic. The farming experts I've spoken with tell me that the soil is very fertile if water can be routed to it. We've been able to demonstrate that row cultivation along with judicious use of fertilizer can markedly increase production. Other techniques are demonstrated on the farm- trellising for grapes yields many more kilos per hectare than simply letting the grapes go wild, for example- that are proven to increase yield and the local growers are very interested in these techniques. The issue that confronts us is more complex than simply growing things- we look at value-chain management, infrastructure development, and other such components of a successful agrarian economy. While our immediate, US Government-mandated objective is to decrease poppy cultivation, this is an involved process that requires a long-term educational effort. That effort is further challenged by the facts that we are dealing with a functionally illiterate population heavily influenced by the Taliban. Tough row to hoe, pun intended. Wendy On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 7:12 PM, Spencer Cheng <spencer at aotera.org> wrote: > Wendy, > > Interesting vignettes. > > Now, why would the farmers be growing corn? Corns requires lots of > fertilizer, and water to grow (at least the variety that is grown in North > America) compared to their traditional crops. The soil in that part of the > world seems rather poor when I rode up the KKH consisting mostly of rocks, > more rocks and sand. > > Nathan, I guess they load their airplanes just like they load trucks which > is to the brim and more. > > Regards, > Spencer > > On Feb 7, 2010, at 6:24, Wendy Thurman wrote: > > > It's been a while since I have posted any images. I've spent some time > in > > Lashkar Gah where we operate a teaching farm for local farmers. The area > is > > extremely volatile; in the second image the person on the hill is a > Taliban > > spotter. This area is as spooky as any I experienced in Iraq; the > province > > is home to most of the insurgent violence and produces the lion's share > of > > the world's opium: > > > > http://wendythurman.com/page2/page3/files/page3-1001-full.html > > > > http://wendythurman.com/page2/page3/files/page3-1003-full.html > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >