Green shoots in Mazar

Certified rootstock nursery project

Seeing our investment projects actually happening up close has to be one of the most rewarding professional experiences imaginable. A few days spent in the field, meeting grantees on their own territory, seeing their business plans come to life and having a chance to talk with the people we hope will ultimately benefit from the investment project, makes all of the months of design, the endless hours of meetings and the inevitable project administration worthwhile. This is what it is all about.

I have just come back from a short trip to Mazar i Sharif, where we have two live projects from round 1 - an apple orchard/nursery producing certified rootstock and an edible oils factory processing cotton, flax and sesame seeds.

Edible oil production

This short trip was an excellent opportunity to see how these two projects are getting on. The good news is that both are making excellent progress; the land for the nursery is identified, the rootstock is ordered and the first customers are already appearing. This is a business that looks as if it will take off quite quickly. The new rootstock, together with the trellising and drip irrigation technology will lead to a dramatic improvement in yields for thousands of apple and fruit growers around Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the oil seed factory is taking shape. Most of the production line is now in place and the grantee has identified the bottling plant, which is the last piece to be purchased and installed. Two engineers from the Indian company that supplied the refinery equipment are currently in Mazar overseeing the installation of all of the equipment.

Both projects are on schedule and both grantees are satisfied with progress.

At the same time as visiting the grantees, this was also a valuable opportunity to get out into the countryside and meet some of what we call "target beneficiaries". It is always good to be reminded that this rather impersonal term is actually about real people who are struggling to eke out a living, mostly from the land.

Cotton picking

Driving between Mazar and Shebergan, we had the chance to stop and talk with families who were harvesting cotton and with a group of young men who were beating the seeds out of piles of sesame plants that had been drying in the sun. Typically these people are working the land on behalf of the owner, taking a share of the crop that they manage to grow and sell.

We met a whole family (it seemed that there were three generations working together) who were out in the cotton field bending over the knee-high plants to pick the cotton. The father was complaining about the low prices they received for their work and it is obvious just from watching them that there was a real sense of urgency to fill the bags for sale.

Sesame seeds

Further along the road, the cotton fields gave way to sesame, and every so often there were stacks of plants drying in the sun. Again we stopped and had a chance to talk with a group of three young men who were gradually working their way through the rows of dried plants.

Having never seen a sesame plant before, it was a fascinating experience to watch them beat each bundle on the ground to extract the seeds. The next step is to sieve everything that falls to the ground to separate the seeds which can then be sold.

Mazar city and the area around is probably one of the most prosperous parts of Afghanistan. The land is flat and relatively fertile, we drove past miles of fields, and where there was no cultivation, there were often shepherds with large flocks of grazing sheep and goats.

One of the highlights of the trip was to meet with the "oil seed representatives". As a part of the edible oil project, the factory owner is encouraging the farmers to form groups. One of the first groups is coming together in the town of Balkh.

Meeting farmers' representatives

The representatives plan to organise the purchase of hybrid seeds, fertilisers and other inputs, provide some basic cultivation training and then collect the product for sale to the factory. There is talk of providing some kind of credit facility to help farmers to invest in the higher yielding but more expensive seeds, but this may be a bit ambitious at this stage.

One of the issues we discussed with the representatives was the role of the provincial Department of Agriculture... "Don't they provide extension services?" I asked rather naively. The answer was pretty straightforward, "We haven't seen anyone from the department since Daoud Khan was in charge." Thank goodness for the private sector!