NRCS Sends Employees to Afghanistan

PRT's work with Afghan farmers on a construction project

From September 2003 to date, a half dozen NRCS employees have been selected and deployed for six-month details serving as ag advisors on provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan. As part of a cooperative program between USDA and U.S. Department of Defense, PRT’s serve as agriculture advisors working actively with the PRT Commander, aid organizations, and the national and local governments to enable, support, and foster reconstruction of the Afghan agricultural sector and to help build the ability of the central government to support and provide services to the agricultural sector. Specific projects NRCS employees have tackled in Afghanistan include working on cotton and soybean variety trials, animal health issues, water management and irrigation systems, farm to market roads, greenhouses, farm planning (one individual developed a specification for land mine removal), obtaining wheat seeds and fertilizer, and alternative livelihoods to opium poppy production. See NRCS Conservationist Returns from Afghanistan
Your contact is Melvin Westbrook, Director, NRCS International Programs Division, at 301-504-2269, or melvin.westbrook@usda.gov.