Spirit of America field rep, Mike Press (far left), discusses the Agricultural Center demonstration farm with the local district agriculture, irrigation and livestock director (far right)

Mike Press, our field representative in western Kandahar province, is working with the US Army and a representative from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help a local Kandahar district create a demonstration farm.

In western Kandahar province more poppy, which is used to make the drug Opium, is grown than anywhere else in the world. The goal of this demonstration farm is to instead provide farmers with the means to grow legal crops. This will allow them to provide for their families outside of the drug trade, and make everyone in the area, including our troops safer.

In order to do this the Army needs tools, wires and equipment to build the farm. USDA rep, Bill Moncus, believes that this farm has the potential to become the agricultural training hub for the area. Mr. Moncus says “[the farm will] provide [15] farmers with alternatives that expose them to the production of legal crops. These farmers, after two years, will then become extension agents and take their newfound knowledge back to their villages and neighbors.”

This demonstration farm is small in scope, but large in ambition. Our field rep, Mike, Mr. Moncus and their Afghan partners hope to show that with a little support from the American people, this small demonstration farm can have a big impact on the people in southern Afghanistan and the safety and security of our troops on the ground.

What does your donation buy?

$300 buys 15 shovels

• $130 buys a 6" or 8" auger
• $50 buys one 100-piece screwdriver set

More about this project

This particular demonstration project involves fifteen (15) local farmers identified by local officials to be the recipients of the first phase of training offered under this program. These farmers will be allowed to utilize the Zharay District Agriculture Center lands to grow demonstration crops during this cropping cycle, which begins this month. The land will be prepared, and all seeds and fertilizer will be provided for each plot.  During the cropping cycle, there are specified training days scheduled for the general populace to attend and observe what new techniques are being utilized to improve crop yields and conserve water usage. The goal is to expose these individuals and others who attend these training sessions to other available applications. This will assist them in becoming successful businessmen. These applications include crop rotations and producing niche crops which can reap substantial income increases to each farmer's operation.

One such crop is grapes. There are several reasons to concentrate on grape production in this area of the world. The vines have a long lifespan and occupy the fields for many years, thus denying the farmer the use of the land to plant and grow poppy and hashish.

Afghanistan produces in excess of 80 percent of the world's supply of poppy. Zharay District is now the poppy capitol. More is grown in this district than anywhere else in the world. The main thrust of these demonstration projects is to provide these farmers with alternatives that expose them to the production of legal crops. This in turn will prevent them from losing their crops to eradication practices performed by the Afghan government each year.

This demonstration farm, offers views of diverse and innovative cropping systems currently in use around the world. The main objectives are to reduce the amount of irrigation water expended by the average land user and to expose these farmers to other methods.