Partnership between the
Faculty of Agriculture
at Kandahar University, CIDA and the
University of Guelph, Canada
Prof. Manish N. Raizada
International Relations Officer
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph
Overall Objective
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Background
•Agriculture is required both for food and is the major source of
income in rural areas.
•Will need a profitable alternative to opium from poppies
•Understanding soil nutrients helps to determine which crops
can be grown (for food, feed, fuel, income) and fertilizer requireme
Overall Objective
Train and build capacity in
, testing and analysis
within the Faculty of Agriculture at Kandahar University
Specific Objective 1
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
. Design a soil science testing building, select and
purchase equipment needed to do fundamental soil testing
in agriculture.
•Building at Kandahar University is ¾ complete.
•In middle of procuring $260,000 US in equipment and lab supplie
--pH, conductivity, particle size, nutrients, atomic absorption
spectrometer, trace elements, permeators for water drainage, etc.
--chose equipment models that are low-tech, reliable, will not requ
dedicated technicians to operate
•Negotiating with Canadian military to ship the equipment to
Afghanistan in March, 2011.
Specific Objective 2
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
. Train scientists at Kandahar University to set up
and use the equipment.
•For safety reasons, 3 Guelph faculty along with 9 scientists
from Kandahar will all fly to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
(TNAU) in India for training in March 2011
•4 weeks of lectures and practical training sessions in TNAU labs
•all teaching materials are new, customized
Specific Objective 3
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
. Guelph will host a study tour of senior Afghan
scientists/administrators to demonstrate “what a soil science
department” should like like in terms of research and classroom
teaching.
•Visas are being arranged, scheduled for Spring 2011
•Being arranged by WUSC
Challenges
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
•After equipment ordered, Afghan partners discovered
unopened boxes of soil testing equipment donated by an
international aid agency!!
•Afghan and Guelph faculty met in Dubai to re-evaluate
equipment list and Guelph faculty could hear first hand
“really” what was needed and what was not needed
•disposal of lab chemicals is a challenge
•18 month delay in signing contracts
•travel Visas are a problem
•language translation is a problem: English will be used for
training materials
•not clear what level of expertise currently exists in Kandahar
and this has been difficult to ascertain
Funding
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA
•paying for building
•paying for equipment
•paying for training
Challenge: CIDA needs all work completed by March 2011
History
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
AgriTeam, a private international aid grant consulting firm,
along with WUSC, approached Guelph as they were creating
a proposal for CIDA.
AgriTeam/WUSC approached Guelph specifically to develop a
soil science equipment/training proposal.
Future Funding: Plan A
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
1. Many Kandahar University faculty do not have PhDs so
they looking for a partner to upgrade their training.
2. Kandahar University would like to establish a long term
relationship with Guelph for training such as a 1-year
“sandwich” program.
Future Funding
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Problems:
1. Majority of population is rural
2. Foreign curriculum/ideas can end up destroying local
agriculture (e.g. Africa)
3. A focus on “academic training” rather than practical
technical training benefits few, not many (e.g. India) and can
be highly disconnected from local needs.
4. Female literacy in rural areas <10%, yet women are key to
Lifting society out of poverty.
Solution:
Need to focus on developing the female rural economy….
add $300-$500 in income per family………..
Future Funding: Plan B
Objective (cost $250,000, helps 1/2 million people)
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Step 1: Hire 100 local staff knowledgeable in agriculture , each to survey 200 local
farmers including women/elderly to discover grassroots needs, indigenous knowledge
(20,000 families surveyed). Use this information to build local curriculum.
Step 2: During survey, identify local entrepreneurs, needs/ideas.
Step 3: Develop customized $10 commercial Sustainable Agriculture Kits (SAKs),
targeted to women initially in India (www.SAKGlobal.org):
(1) 100 packets of improved, disease-free seeds (for food, to create fertilizers, to replace
pesticides, for animal feed, for biodiesel, for wood cooking fuel, for medicines)
(2) low cost technologies (grain storage bags, food processing, etc.)
(3) picture book of best practices for illiterate (female) farmers (indigenous + scientific)
Step 4: Recruit entrepreneurs/extension officers to sell kits on commission similar to
stalls selling cigarettes/Pepsi/cell phone cards in poor nations.
Future Funding: Plan C
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Objective (Cost $20 million over 5 years)
Step 1. Hire
, potentially linked and trained by
Faculties of Agriculture. Focus on practical technical training.
Step 2. Do extensive
, including elderly and women to determine
grassroots needs (are any being done currently?). Use this to build local curriculum.
Step 3. During survey,
and survey their needs/ideas.
Step 4. Hire/subsidize
to create/supply
to
sell improved seeds, fertilizers, cheap agricultural tools, etc. They travel to cities.
Step 5. Pair each extension officer with each rural merchant.
Step 6. Hire/subsidize
in the cities:
--to procure agricultural products and have some manufactured in cities
--to survey urban merchants for what they need grown/raised from the countryside
Step 7. Make limited
available to facilitate consignments of goods (and
possibly microfinance).
Result: establishment of a reciprocal procurement rural-urban economic system.
Contact Information
Partnership in Agriculture
University of Guelph
Kandahar University
CIDA
Professor Bev Hale
Associate Dean, Ontario Agriculture College, University of Guelp
bhale@uoguelph.ca
Professor Manish Raizada
International Relations Officer, Dept of Plant Agriculture
raizada@uoguelph.ca
1-519-824-4120 x 53396