Boxed Tree Juice?

Boxed Tree Juice?
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

When traveling I am always on the lookout for new foods and, in this case, drinks. I was recently in Ukraine and noticed a variety of foods, many could probably fall in the category of “Russian Influenced” (can talk about Azerbaijan and Potatoes later) or as the Ukrainians might argue “Ukrainian influenced”, food. What came to mind when I first saw this was “tree juice in a box” and I am not too far off, it is a tea of sorts brewed from the birch tree. I was very amused (yes, I do amuse myself on occasion) to see tree juice but after some thought this is not so strange in that sassafras (a tree) tea is not so strange and I remember my great aunt telling me about cutting birch trees and then coming back later to collect the sap and chew on it like chewing gum. Truth be known this photo was taken months ago (4?) and I just hadn’t gotten around (lack of inspiration) to posting it but upon finding a variation on this juice which was about as Russian as one can get I was inspired to post this photo as a prelude of sorts.

Lada O’ Melons

Lada O’ Melons
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

That is a Lada (Russian car) full of melons. In developing countries I am constantly amused by how people push the limits of vehicular carrying capacity be it a car with brush (for making brooms) piled 3 times as high as the car is high, to a trunk full of peppers to a… backseat piled to the ceiling with water melons. The lada seems to me to be the Russian equivalent of Germany’s VW Bug, breaks easily, fixed easily, deathtrap; but I have never seen people stuff a VW Bug like I regularly see people stuff ladas. A photo like this can be had near just about any CIS bazaar, unfortunately this was a camera phone photo so it is of less-than-stellar quality. Also, note, I am sure I am within a few hundred meters of the right place but I am not positive, I didn’t have the GPS function turned on in my phone when I took this photo so I used www.geoimgr.com/ to place the image about right. I know it is near the freedom square in Tbilisi though.

What about agriculture?!?!

ok, yet another agriculture gripe. While there does seem to be a bit more lip service (and a trickle, more than before, of funding) i was looking over the events sections of devex.com and reliefweb.int and nada, i mean nothing nothing. There was a listing for some aquacutlure and yeah that counts it is one thing out of thousands of gender, humanitarian studies, M&E, etc events... still no love for agriculture or agribusiness.

I Think You Need This AND Should Use This!

I posted a not-quiteag-post on gtinn earlier but I also wanted to address the Ag component of these girls'/interns' visit.  While I still don't entirely understand the purpose of their visit (when i get ambiguous answers it makes me think they don't know what they are doing either) I did get that they want to "help" small Azeri dairy processor make European style hard cheeses. When i heard that first thing that popped into my head was "Do Azeri's really like hard cheeses that much?" a question that I know the answer to, they like it ok but their prefer their own cheese. Their visit quickly started to sound naïve, and more naive the more I heard about how they wanted to focus on small dairy processors and selling locally (or exporting) etc, now I will proceed to poke a few holes into their politically correct line of reasoning (admitting that their cheapness has tainted my personal few of these two):

Many rural cultures are not open to foreign foods. This statement reminds me of a bill board I saw in the US, it was an advertisement for “down home/country cooking” and it has some Marlboro man type character saying “Sushi? Raw fish?! Where I come from we call that fishing bait!” testimony to the lack of acceptance of foreign foods. While I don’t think the reaction to hard cheeses in rural Azerbaijan would be quite so vitriolic I don’t see them just loving it either.

“Small farmers small businesses, go local!” While the sentiment is admirable it is not always logical. In the US and especially in Europe and definitely Japan farmers are (generally speaking) more sophisticated and if they were to change their businesses (say from soft cheeses to hard cheeses) they would probably be able to adapt. That degree of dynamism is lacking in second and third world countries; I don’t think rural Azerbaijan is an exception. I learned from talking with one of my friend’s mothers (who raises [raised?] goats) that making hard cheese is more difficult than making soft cheese, which is probably a factor in why I think I have seen more soft cheeses in developing countries (those that eat cheese). Assuming that you can instill an understanding of sanitation in addition to technical understanding of making hard cheeses in addition to cultivating a widespread taste for hard cheese just sounds a bit green to me (from the development point of view).

One of the points the two visitors used as justification for making hard cheese is “exportability”, it is indeed easier to transport hard cheeses since they are denser and keep better/longer than softer cheeses so this is a valid point. The thing is, are these small village processors really going to be exporting their cheeses even across Azerbaijan not to mention to other countries? The answer is probably not. I have seen one example of a local processor who occasionally exports to Russia (an easier market to be sure considering corruption and lax sanitation standards) but this person is still 2-3 times larger than the second largest processor in the region… So whether they plan to have it sold in Azerbaijan or exported somewhere else I just can’t see it happening.

I suppose there are other points but the above is what popped into my head first.

Salinity?

Salinity?
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

My agricultural background, while fairly general, is a bit more geared towards livestock so I don?t have much background with horticulture/soil science/irrigation but despite that I hear about salinity every once in a while. When I hear there is high level of salinity in the water/soil of some place it usually conjures up a picture of the more finicky crops not being able to grow. Working in Azerbaijan my understanding of salinization has changed, mostly due to the fact that this is the worst case of salinization I have seen (now mind you, after doing some research I have heard of places that have it worse but for now I am just talking about places I have seen myself). In this photo the ground looks white, if it were the beach and this were sand that would be normal but it is not the beach it is an area that I pass through every once in a while called Imishli. The whiteness is salt (mineral deposits) that you can literally chip off. This is a camera phone photo so the quality is mediocre but if it were clearer you could see that it almost looks like a beach of salt. The primary occupation of rural Azerbaijan (this area is no exception) is agriculture and when I see those puny fields that are barely scraping by it does tend to make you feel sorry for those farmers.

Train me!!

As I have mentioned before my current position requires staff management, not one of my favorite parts of my job. One of the things that I am confronted with on a monthly basis is being told “I need training”. Most of my staff seems quite obsessed with getting trainings, presumably for their resumes. There is a catch though, because invariably the “required trainings” are in places like western Europe (read: EXPENSIVE) so “I need training” is somewhat of a euphemism for “I want the prestige of training abroad” and they are dead serious about this. While I do my best to humor them or walk them through the hurdles involved I am one of those who is not convinced of the usefulness of “training”, I have had to go to many a training and the hardest part is usually trying to stay awake, not to mention the fact that they are usually short enough or complicated enough (usually short) that I can hardly absorb what I am being taught. I know there are many out there that disagree but having sent staff to trainings, or had donors require my staff go to trainings and then seeing my staff go right back and do things they way they always have I just can’t help but think that trainings are 90% fluff and 10% useful. Our donor recently sent a person from one of our partner organizations to a fairly expensive training in Britian. My staff was sure that this guy was going to leave the instant he got back and found a better job. Well he got back and within a week he quit and got another (admittedly sweeter) job. One of the unfathomable parts of sending external people to trainings such as this is that there is very little that can be done to keep them at the organization after they get the training and there is no incentive to use this training (market development in this case) if the donor agency isn't funding such things; you can't get funding for drilling water wells and say, we are going to make the market work here! or at least there is very little incentive to try to use that training because all you have to do is drill the well (or whatever else the donor wanted), telling the donor what should be done can get sticky.

I think I will be sick tomorrow...

My current job requires an uncomfortably high level of staff management. I have never been particularly good at this as I am often accused of being either too nice/diplomatic or totally unsympathetic (hows that for contrast?). One of the “totally unsympathetic” accusations came when I was informed by my staff that “I will be sick next week” quite matter-a-factly; my instant reaction was, “how do you know it will last all week?”, her, “I know”. Now the organization’s regulations state that the staff will have to produce a signed letter from a doctor saying the person was sick enough that they couldn’t come in to work but outside of the west that is an absolute joke, those kind of letters can be forged or bought for a few Euros and of course you will still be paid because you are “sick” grrrrrrrrrr. I have about given up on this but it will never cease to irritate me… the other day I had a migraine and decided to go home early, I informed my administrator and the first thing he asked was “will you be sick tomorrow?” 

Pork cravings

I guess its kinda clear from my writing that I work in international development which, of course, includes living/working in many different countries. I rather like the diversity of my work but it is fraught with numerous inconveniences and each country has its own little issue. I am currently in Azerbaijan but before that I worked in Afghanistan, both are Muslim countries. I am from one of the largest pork producing states in the US not to mention the world and I have grown up with pork in all its forms but the past two countries I have worked in have presented their own problems, from Afghanistan where it is totally harem (forbidden/verboten), to Azerbaijan where people just don’t care for it; I can’t seem to get a “pork break”. I smuggled a pack of bacon from Georgia (the country) to Azerbaijan and had a very sinfully fattening weekend of bacon with everything (bacon bits in a salad, straight fried bacon, bacon with green beans (canned but what the heck), and bacon N cheese omelet… I will die a young (but happy) man. Anyway, when I am in the US, one of the first things I plan on doing is clogging my arteries with some good ole’ chopped BBQ pork with spicy vinegar sauce!

Zoonotic infections? Anyone need help with zoonotic infection mitigation?

It seems that I have finally reached a level (professionally) where recruiters have started contacting me (as opposed to my begging them); that is not to say that any jobs have come of it but hey, it does help my (severely damaged) professional ego. Today I got an email asking if they could include me in a proposal (hardly a guarantee of employment) as a "Zoonotic Swine Infections specialist"… didn’t see that one coming. I got my MA in “International development” but was frustrated by the lack of technical expertise the degree offered so every chance I had I tried to gear it towards something more technical (agriculture related in my case). An example of this was my masters paper, which was pretty much zoonotic infection mitigation in small scale Southeast Asian aquaculture production. I have worked on a small scale swine operation in the US as well so some recruiter thought “hey, this guy might work” (I am guessing there are not many people who have a background in this, and having been in the position of having to recruit consultants I know the feeling) but the problem is that reducing zoonotic (mainly parasitic) infections in a swine operation is probably quite different from doing it in an aquaculture operation, not to mention variables like scale (I am much more familiar with small scale livestock production in general)… and the fact that the best mitigation is just cooking your food well before eating it (there are exceptions like mad cow disease but anywho)

Bizarre Morning

I woke up at about 6am this morning to the cold nose of Beanie (my dog). Somehow in my groggy semi-awake state it occurred to me that I had forgotten to let Beanie out last night to “do his business” and that his waking me up this morning was his way of giving me a choice, “you open the door and let me do it out there or I do it here”, not a hard choice so I got up.

As it was 6am in the morning and my yard is walled in etc I didn’t bother changing out of my boxers, I stumbled my way down the stairs, opened the door and Beanie started barking like crazy, was getting ready to scold him until I looked up to see a little middle aged man standing in my yard gorging on mulberries from my overly prolific mulberry tree. We blankly stared at each other for a second and then I said “salam” (hello here in Azerbaijan) he said hello back, then I wanted to ask him if he wanted mulberries in Russian but in my groggy state (helped by the fact that I don’t know how to say mulberry in Russian) I mumbled “hochish mulberries” well he got it and said “da” (yes) I just said ok (horasho), turned around, and went back inside. Surreal.

In retrospect I really didn’t mind all that much, the mulberry tree has beome a liability in that now I have a yard full of rotten mulberries which are caked on the soles of my shoes and getting tracked everywhere. Plus, there is the detail about his chickens, Beanie awhile back decided he wanted chicken and picked off about 2-3 of his chickens like popcorn… not a happy moment. So, I sent my driver over to pick a bowl of mulberries for the guy, tell him he can have as many as he wants and to be sure to close the gate.

We shall see.

Note: 2009/08/23

Well, yesterday was like a relapse. Beanie started barking like crazy, i look outside to see a family running around in my fenced in yard picking fruit. I went out and said they could take all they want but they had to close and lock the back gates (from where they were coming) but of course that evening when i went out to check the gate it was not locked at all offering my door opening canine the perfect opportunity to go KFC on thier poultry and then (probably) come back to me and complain how my dog is a menace... the best neighbors are not having any neighbors at all... sigh.

Dumb Ag Guy

Today i just finished a tough meeting with my staff and the staff of a survey organization that we contracted almost 8 months ago to do a survey. It has become a blame game and just about every issue we have with them is (apparently) either our fault or the fault of the people they surveyed. It was tough in that it was the hifalutin academic statistics gurus vs the "country bumpkin" field people (who just happen to work in the field and know that the data that was presented does not reflect observations in the field). They ran circles around us with all their numbers and procedures etc but in the end, the data just does not reflect what we see in the field... its kind of like we are race car drivers and we can just feel that something is wrong with the car but we can't say exactly what is wrong while we have the mechanics telling us everything is ok. At one point they told us the "numbers don't lie" which immediately brought to mind a quote from Mark Twain "There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics"... i am not sure they would have seen the humor in that quote though.

Hair Fertilizer?

I can't remember where exactly i heard about this, a podcast i think (which podcast i have no idea) but it struck me as a very simple thing assuming it works. This product is essentially (treated) hair that is woven into mats and can be used as a combination fertilizer (as it is biodegradable) and something to keep weeds down (like a mat that you can put around say a tree or maybe in between rows to keep weeds down.

http://www.smartgrow.us/welcome.htm

I can easily see some people being repulsed at the idea of using a mat make of someone elses hair but at the same time its nice to see the stuff is being used instead of taking up space in a landfill.

Google Goats

Well google took my idea, they are now using goats to "mow" their "lawns" (fields)(apparently a service, it is amazing what people will pay for in California). I considered getting a goat last summer and am reconsidering it now as i apparently have a very fertile yard but what is holding me back is the knowledge that goats will consume anything that is even semi-edible thus the shrubs, trees, and some flowers in my yard would be in eminent danger should i introduce a lawnmower as indiscriminate as a goat.

I don't think sheep are quite as adventurous when it comes to eating. Once winter comes around again i could sell the animal (most likely for more than i paid for it, assuming i get a small/young one now) or BBQ it... anyway, i haven't made up my mind yet. I am not sure how my dog would take it, he has a taste for chickens (killed at least 3 of my neighbor's chickens thanks to the particularly incompetent dog sitter i employed while on a trip) but he seems to shy away from cows. I guess my entire reasoning is that it doesn't seem to make sense to try to mow my yard as I am out in rural Azerbaijan and the only lawn mowers in the country are gas powered (ie expensive and not easy to fix for non-grease monkeys such as myself), using the scythe that came with the house is a pain, and well getting an animal could be amusing and keep the grass manageable at the same time. 

Ah well.

Doubling of aid from the US to International Agricultural Development

Well, what can I say, two posts in one day is a record for this year (the other post was on gtinn).

Well the reason is the expected budget allocation for international development aid, and more specifically for Agricultural Development. This from the Center for Global Engagement "While traveling Obama put these words to action in announcing new assistance programs. At the G20 summit Obama announced America would double assistance for agricultural development to $1 billion. The program is designed to increase rural productivity and incomes, while building multilateral partnerships and decreasing reliance on foreign food aid." I believe that is a doubling of aid (for agriculture) from what it was before.

Its nice to hear that one of the most basic (and arguably important) sectors of development is starting to get some attention/recognition again.

Wow, I'ma lobbyist?

I was just reading over one of my association newsletters (which i don't do nearly enough) and noticed they made a mention of the "Coalition for Agricultural Development" and how it was a member of this coalition, makes sense right? (after all my work is "international agricultural development"). I wasn't familiar with the Coalition for Agricultural Development (CAD) so i googled it and the first document that came up was a pdf that apparently was a letter to congress. In it they pretty much implore these congressional members to put more money into international agricultural aid. I can honestly say I agree with most of the arguments they put forth (at least i am accurately represented) but i would be really curious to know about the monetary lobbying going on. I am almost positive my organization isn't doing any direct monetary lobbying or if they are it is not through membership fees (i think it is made up of less than 1,000 members and the $50/year membership fee probably doesn't leave much for enticing congressional members). I did however notice that the CAD is made up of some much more (monetarily) influential organizations like BASF, Monsanto, Chemonics, ACDI/VOCA, etc (a mix of direct agriculture interests commercial and development organizations).

I was amused at how they threw in the bit about HIV and political instability, makes sense though, i guess i don't have to tell people that agriculture just doesn't engender as much sympathy and emotion as say a person dying from HIV, or school girls being kept out of schools, or even fuzzy little mammals that are endangered of going extinct... or scare people as much as some hooded terrorist (and yes, i do sincerely believe those all are important things but in a head-to-head fight for attention agriculture usually takes a back seat to these other issues; hence the CAD's probably seeing the need to link agriculture to these more popular issues).

Anyway, just interesting to find out i was (apparently) part of a lobby.

Agriculture not en vogue...

I always knew agriculture was not en vogue, not at home (within the US) or abroad in development but I was floored by a figure I saw in the Christian Science Monitor "Relatively quick and substantial progress can be made if nations rededicate themselves to international aid for agriculture, which has dropped from 13 percent of all development aid in the early 1980s to only 3 percent now."... 3% of all development aid is for agriculture; folks, bottom line if people don't grow stuff then they don't eat. I knew that agriculture was not popular but 3% just boggles my mind for something so basic and critical as agriculture. In the US and Europe I see people quibbling over details of agriculture and the most environmentally appropriate (important no doubt) ways and most healthy foods but then I think about the farmers toiling away to grow enough wheat/rice for their families, producing not even 1/5th of what an American/European farmer can produce in the same area... and wheat/rice is about all these subsistence farmer families eat.

My knee jerk assumption is that since much of the developed world lives far away from agriculture so has little concept of it and given supermarkets has little appreciation for agriculture that coupled with political interests that are injected into all forms of development aid I guess its not hard to see how agriculture is marginalized but still...

A Mortgage Broker In Amish Country... lessons to be learned

I was reading an an article on NPR about the Amish and loans and came away not sure what to think...

A line from the article that really got my attention was "O'Brien says the Amish are less risky debtors than people with access to all the tools of modern banking. The Amish live well within their means — no splurging on iPods or HDTVs, no dinners out that they really can't afford. The Amish think that missing a payment brings shame — not just on them, but on their whole family, their whole community."

Its a strange phenomenon in a day and age where people routinely spend beyond their means. I am currently working through a budgeting debacle that I inherited from the previous management where it seems that they spent over 40+% of a three year budget... in 8 months; times like this remind me that even one who is "fiscally disciplined" can be subject to the fiscal faux pas of others.

I am still quite proud of my family and the way i have been brought up in terms of living in a fiscally realistic manner. Again and again i find the world looks at me like i am some sort of scrooge (though i have never been accused of being a mooch) because i live what i believe to be, responsibly. Its odd to me because it is not only the spending-money-like-water (sometimes via credit, though usually by just spending all month-to-month) westerners but also the poor as dirt developing countries, they think i have "tons of money" and can live like a king (rarely saving properly for the future) but i find that in many of these countries life gets rough when they get older and they become heavily dependent on their children, children who sometimes don't look out for their parents later in life.

ah well...