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Hello from Paktika, Afghanistan
My name is Caroline Clarin. I am a U.S. Agricultural Advisor on the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) located at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Sharana in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. The province borders Pakistan with a Tribal Pashtun population. The literacy rate as a whole is 5 percent or less; among women it is less than 1percent.
Poverty is chronic in the Paktika Province. Depending on the district, the average land holding varies from one to seven acres. Annual income is less than $1,500 per year. Household income is mostly generated by male family members, who work in other countries and send their earnings home. Paktika is about the size of Vermont, yet it has less than 16 miles of paved roads. The good news is that many miles of roads are under construction and many more are planned. As a U.S. agricultural advisor, I am one of only a few civilian members of the PRT.
In Afghanistan, PRTs are a military unit led by the U.S. Department of Defense with an integrated command team. Typically units are composed of 50-100 military personnel (both force protection and civil affairs personnel) with a few civilians. Our integrated command team includes a military commander, a U.S. Department of State field representative, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) representative, and me, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agricultural advisor. Our PRT’s mission is to facilitate reconstruction efforts that empower local governments, making them more effective and to extend the reach of the centralized government of Afghanistan into the province.
Since arriving, I have met several times with the Provincial Governor, District Sub-Governors, and the Provincial Director of Agriculture. I have also had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, the Minister of Electricity and Water, as well as village elders and farmers throughout the 10 districts that make up the Paktika Province. When I met with each of these leaders for the first time, I asked them, "What is your greatest challenge in agriculture?"
Most leaders at any level reply with the same list: the need for improved irrigation, orchard trees, fertilizer, and improved seed. Year’s of war and conflict in Afghanistan have devastated the landscape, leading to deforestation, overgrazing, and degraded soil. Paktika Province is no exception. Because the soil is so degraded, rainfall or melting snow sweeps soil along without resistance from the mountains to the valleys. Nothing has been built to absorb this energy, resulting in unimaginable sediment transport. The result is erosion so extensive it is turning mountains into foothills and burying newly cultivated and planted fields in a matter of minutes when the water slows and drops the sediment in the valley. The cuts are vertical in the wadi (seasonal river) and up to 20 feet high. As a resource conservationist and agricultural engineer with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Wisconsin, I know that to develop a sustainable and productive agricultural sector, the pervasive, uncontrolled erosion in the upper and middle reaches of the watershed must be addressed.
At the same time, the populated agricultural areas in the river basin need agricultural training and security. A few years ago someone in Task Force Eagle, the military unit stationed in Paktika, understood this situation and obtained funding for the Paktika Water Resources Study, which was published in May 2008. This study has provided the tools to begin planning and implementing watershed rehabilitation and stabilization throughout the province. Currently, I am working with the Tennessee Agri-business Development Team (ADT) in Western Paktika and the Indiana ADT in Eastern Paktika to identify project areas for re-vegetation through tree planting and range establishment, as well as structural erosion control practices. These include the installment of gabion check dams, small rock dams and other energy-dissipating structures. Each project must meet three basic criteria: the area must be sufficiently secure, the community must be supportive of the project, and the local and provincial governments must have identified the area and the project as a priority.
I have found that basic agricultural education is greatly needed. Vegetable seeds are not available in most local bazaars. Our PRT is working to develop partnerships with contractors and non-governmental organizations to develop a curriculum and a way to train and disseminate information at the district and village level. When the Afghan people have the ability to grow enough food to feed their families and have a little left over to sell or barter, it will be a sign progress is being made toward a productive agricultural sector. During my first two months in Afghanistan, I was getting my balance and identifying potential projects for feasibility and sustainability under existing conditions.
My goal for the rest of my 12-month deployment is to help develop a provincial watershed restoration and stabilization plan and a training program to be implemented at the district level. If these projects are a success, the next PRT agricultural advisor who fills my shoes can use these building blocks to continue to assist in the development of the agricultural sector in Paktika.
Caroline Clarin is a USDA Agricultural Advisor stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Sharana in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. She is from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and works as an Agricultural Engineer for the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service in Jefferson, WI.
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