Ironic: Poppy processing in Afghanistan

Lately I have been working on a USAID concept paper for the enhancement of sugar beet processing facilities in the Afghan province of Baghlam and in the process I have learned how little value added processing (VAP) takes place in Afghanistan. Like in many places in Africa, the agricultural economies are focused on providing raw materials that are then exported and processed in other more developed countries. The idea of cultivating a country’s capacity to process agricultural goods is no trivial task, setting up the facilities is only half of it, export is the most difficult (i.e. Quality assurance, maintaining regular schedules, enforcing contract agreements, tariffs, etc).

The irony in Afghanistan is that the poppy industry has some of the most developed (not necessarily advanced, but certainly stable) processing facilities in Afghanistan. Even with the pressure of air strikes (rare), herbicides, burning, etc Afghanistan still produces over 90% of the world’s opium products, amazing.

The Village & grapes

The Village & grapes
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

I took this picture for two reasons; #1 How foreign and ancient the villages seemed to be (these structures are made of mud so while the village locations are ancient I was informed that most of the structures were not so old) #2 The walled vineyards which I saw quite a bit. The greenery you see inside the wall here is grapes. Since this is an Islamic society they don't use the grapes for wine (though that is the first thing that popped into my head, too much of Eastern Europe I guess). The Afghans I have talked to are quite proud of their grapes but from what I have seen so far they only eat the grapes as grapes, I am sure they have raisins but have yet to see them. I know little to nothing about wine production (types of grapes required, preferred soils, and preferred climates) but as invested as many of these farmers are in grape production I would be curious to see what the potential for wine production is (It would only be for personal curiosity since the cultural taboo would make actual production impossible, though it does amaze me that poppies seem to be more accepted than booze here).

Irrigation

Irrigation
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Well this photo was supposed to show some basic surface irrigation but taking pictures from a speeding vehicle ain't easy so the photo ended up looking more like a mini swamp. To the right is a pile of straw (probably wheat, more on that later) and to the left I *think* are grapes.

In Afghanistan I have been appalled (though I totally understand the reasoning) by the grossly inefficient use of water, especially considering that most of the country is very arid.

Surface irrigation is the simplest form of irrigation to implement (how well its implemented is a different story) so in rural areas with little to no access to other irrigation technologies (not to mention little access to money) the decision to use surface irrigation is understandable.

The use of water here kind of reminds me of when I worked at my university computer lab, when I first started working they had a policy of free printing but it was insane how much paper people used and how frivolously they used it, I think the same applies here. When water is available they just use it without considering the long term (I'm talking months, not some 100 years later) consequences.

All that is not to say they don’t have some pretty nifty/creative irrigation technologies like Kareezes (which I hope to get a photo of later on).

Fluorescent bulbs in Afghanistan

Fluorescent bulbs in Afghanistan
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Recently I believe the Australian government signed in to law legislation requiring the use of Fluorescent lighting and banning filament lighting (though I am sure there are exceptions). I applauded the effort (even though it does feel a bit uncomfortable in the big brother sense) but I don't see the US doing something like that anytime soon for a variety of reasons (excuses). I have been quite impressed that the use of fluorescent bulbs is quite common in Afghanistan, even in rural areas (assuming they have electricity). I am sure there are infrastructure cost arguments to be in the US and that Afghanistan is starting from the bottom but still... if a worn torn third world country can do it then shouldn't the US?

Laundry Soap

Laundry Soap
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

I originally thought this might be some sort of vegetable based soap but I didn't have an Afghan colleague with me to ask (poor guy has to ask all my weird questions, I can see the locals thinking "why are you asking that?"). On the side the only English I could make out was "laundry soap" so that much I know.

They had other soaps there as well but I kinda had to take this photo incognito as I am still a bit nervous about photography in Afghanistan. I haven't had *any* problems but I have heard things like women walking in front of a photographer just as they snap the picture only to get yelled at, not to mention looking even more like a foreigner (I have grown a beard and there are some light skinned Afghans out there so I don't stick out tooo badly).

You can also see rice and beans behind the soap. I was pretty much amazed to hear that Afghanistan grows rice (since it’s a water intensive crop), though only in certain areas. Some locals grown their own little patches of rice but I was told that it is pretty low quality stuff and the "good stuff" comes from southern Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan Compounds

Afghan Compounds
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

I mainly took this photo because I thought it was a good example of many of the homes I saw on my trip. Most homes seem to be built like compounds, that is, a big wall surrounding a few houses and gardens. I would be curious to learn the original reason for this design (security, keeping the kids/livestock in/safe, or something else).

Here is also another good example of how pervasive wheat production is in Afghanistan. While I haven't been to all parts of the country I have heard (and seen) that bread is a staple of the afghan diet and wheat is a pretty hardy crop so I don't see why it wouldn't be grown in other areas as well. There is also row of what I think is corn, funny because I have hardly seen any corn food products and it doesn't seem that they feed corn to livestock (though I don't know that for sure).

Chopped Wheat

Chopped Wheat
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Well the main reason I took this photo is hard to see. In the background you see a mound of white and some people/animals around it. Well I believe that mound of white is chopped/ground straw. I have seen (but unfortunately do not have photos of yet) machines that hook up to tractor PTOs that seem designed solely for the purpose of grinding up straw (not the grain itself but the stems, straw).

Here people are stuffing the ground straw into large bags (like 3-5 times the size of large feed bags) and loading it onto an animal (probably a donkey). I have seen large bags of this ground straw for sale on the side of the road and it occurred to me that this is probably sold for mixing with mud for stucco. Many structures here are covered with mud stucco of sorts that clearly has some sort of grassy/straw mixed in with it. In talking with my Afghan colleagues I found that the walls, many of which are made at least partly of this mud straw mixture, are rebuilt/repaired every year so I imagine the stucco is also repaired annually which would make this a product that has a constant market.

Butcher

Butcher
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

Meat meat meat! Since my agriculture background leans more towards livestock production I am always interested in butchers and meats. This is a pretty typical scene in the small towns and big cities. I can't tell all the cuts (as usual in developing countries exact cuts of meat are generally viewed as superfluous) here but I am guessing the stuff on the far left is either liver or lungs, the long thing is hide/skin, and the others are leg-cuts. The most common meats are mutton, goat, and beef with lamb being the most expensive and poultry (rare though it is) being the cheapest with goat and beef being in the middle.

The cuts of meat are usually pretty crude, I think the cutting utensil of choice here is the axe (or at least they are cut with the precision of one using an axe) and the result is meat that tastes just fine but is laced with flecks of bone (it’s a wonder I haven’t cracked any teeth during any of my culinary adventures).

Butcher

Butcher
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

A typical scene along the road in a small town. Honestly the thing that was rather amusing to me is that you only see men at these markets, even though the world over men are the "grill kings" I don't see men perusing the meat isles in western supermarket (of course there are exceptions but generally speaking its mostly women buying the meat). Since women don't get out much in Afghanistan I guess that leaves the men to do the meat buying.

Beached Cattle

Beached Cattle
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

We were driving along and all of a sudden one of the guys wanted to pull off so we did and there were these cows (actually one bull and three heifers) just lying on beside the river like little beached bovines.

New job

Well I just got hired for a program coordinator position in Afghanistan and will be heading out there this week. I don't know nearly as much about the work as I would like but have been reading some of my (new) organization's proposals, about irrigation (which will be a large part of my program), and the Hazarajat region (which my program will concentrate on. I could go on for a long time about it but don't really have the time at the moment. I have noticed that, at least in the Hazarajat region, the have been quite dependant on livestock which bodes well for me (as opposed to horticulture, which I will have to deal with) since I am much more familiar with livestock development. Ok, back to the books/packing/planning.