Nangarhar University plowing ahead for Afghanistan

LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Members of the Kansas ADT gathered with distinguished guests at the Research and Development Farm outside Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam, Dec. 20, to participate in a graduation ceremony for a class of 46 students.

The Nangarhar University agricultural training program was first conceived by the Kansas Agri-business Development Team two years ago with the goal of supporting local Afghan Agricultural Professions in offering  a program of agricultural study to local Afghan students. 

This is the final time that an ADT will play such a heavy role in the Nangarhar University’s curriculum.  Nangarhar University Dean of Agriculture, Mohammed Asif Bawary and other facilitators of the academic institution have demonstrated that they are more than capable and willing to take the lead role of furthering the education of their country’s young people.

“What they learn today will affect their future,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Russell Richardson, Kansas ADT commander from Hamlin, Kan. “These graduates have the capability to help train the farmers of Afghanistan. They can become teachers, businessmen or future government employees.”

Argricultural Professionals are responsible for providing the instruction while the ADT supports the AgPros with training, resources and expertise. The Nangarhar University agricultural training program is a recurring 11-week course that brings about 30 agricultural students to the Mehtar Lam Research and Development Farm and the orchard in Zio Haq to learn sound agricultural methodology.  

“These students are enthusiastic, optimistic, and bright,” said U.S. Army Capt. Todd Stuke, native of Topeka, Kan. and officer in charge of the Agriculture Section of ADT 4. “This is what makes some of us optimistic about the successful transition from Coalition Forces to the Afghan Government.”

The graduation ceremony included commencement speeches from Bawary, Mohammed Ismail Dawaltzai, Laghman Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, and Richardson.

As the students mingled with the ADT, many asked questions about farming in Kansas and many requested to have pictures taken with the Soldiers.

“What are ADT’s plans for Afghanistan,” asked one of the students at the end of their day’s classes.

A member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Eric Grant, stepped up to answer the question, “We are here to teach you, so that you can teach your countrymen,” said Grant to the class. “And you can dictate what you do with these resources.”

During the 11-week course of study, students receive instructions specific to Laghman Province in the following classes:  drip irrigation, plant production, crop disease, marketing, soil science, gardening/orcharding, artifical insemination, pruning/graphing and designing of orchards, greenhouse operations, canning, and winter feed mixing.