Prof. Manish N. Raizada International Relations Officer Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph

1. 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

2. 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 requirements. Overall Objective Train and build capacity in soil science, testing and analysis within the Faculty of Agriculture at Kandahar University

3. Specific Objective 1 Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA Objective. Design a soil science testing building, select and purchase equipment needed to do fundamental soil testing in agriculture. Progress: •Building at Kandahar University is ¾ complete. •In middle of procuring $260,000 US in equipment and lab supplies: --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 require dedicated technicians to operate •Negotiating with Canadian military to ship the equipment to Afghanistan in March, 2011.

4. Specific Objective 2 Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA Objective. Train scientists at Kandahar University to set up and use the equipment. Progress: •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

5. Specific Objective 3 Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA Objective. 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. Progress: •Visas are being arranged, scheduled for Spring 2011 •Being arranged by WUSC

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Future Funding: Plan A Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA 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.

10. 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………..

11. Future Funding: Plan B Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA Objective (cost $250,000, helps 1/2 million people) To build a profit-driven (self-sustaining), ~institution-independent, female rural economyappropriate for an unstable nation: 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): 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. Result: 1 kit helps 10 people, 50,000 kits helps ½ million people. Only purchase kit once. Goal of each kit is to add $300-$500 per year to families.

12. Future Funding: Plan C Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA • Objective (Cost $20 million over 5 years) • To build a rural-urban trade economy reminiscent of early 1900s USA/Canada. • Step 1. Hire 1000 agricultural extension officers, potentially linked and trained by Faculties of Agriculture.Focus on practical technical training. • Step 2. Do extensive farmer surveys, including elderly and women to determine grassroots needs (are any being done currently?). Use this to build local curriculum. • Step 3. During survey, find rural entrepreneurs and survey their needs/ideas. • Step 4. Hire/subsidize 1000 farm merchants to create/supply rural general stores 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 50 procurement merchants 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 capital available to facilitate consignments of goods (and possibly microfinance). • Result: establishment of a reciprocal procurement rural-urban economic system.

13. Contact Information Partnership in Agriculture University of Guelph Kandahar University CIDA Professor Bev Hale Associate Dean, Ontario Agriculture College, University of Guelph bhale@uoguelph.ca Professor Manish Raizada International Relations Officer, Dept of Plant Agriculture raizada@uoguelph.ca 1-519-824-4120 x 53396