Wabash Group Learns About Ag Efforts in Afghanistan
Published: Friday, March 16, 2018
If your background is in Indiana agriculture and your mission is to try to make a difference in agriculture in Afghanistan, you might find a few challenges. Like: most farms are subsistence farms of three to five acres; arid climate; poor, hard, rocky, cloddy soils; no grain storage facilities; animals that are mostly malnourished, with feedstocks scarce; very little machinery; rampant corruption; and while you are trying to help Afghan farmers, insurgents are trying to kill you.
Those challenges and more are what members of the 1-19th unit of the Indiana National Guard encountered when they were deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to February 2010. Cindy Chastain, who was a colonel and deputy commander of the unit, told attendees last week at Wabash County's Adult Farmer Class that while the unit was classified as an "Agribusiness Development Team," (ADT) its real mission was not strictly agricultural.
"Our main mission really wasn't as much to help the Afghans with agriculture as it was to connect the people to their government, so they could see their government was helping them," she said.
The 1-19th was among the first wave of several Guard units from various states, serving in different Afghan provinces. The Hoosier unit consisted of 16 specialists trained in different aspects of agriculture and 40 more who provided security and support. During their time in the Khost Province, which borders Pakistan, members of the unit worked to win the trust of the Afghan rural population, who were wavering between the influence of the Taliban and the new American-backed Afghan government. One of the key strategies of that approach was what Chastain called "training the trainers."
"There's no one living in Afghanistan who doesn't remember when they weren't at war. They've never known peace," she said. "As a result, there were some real gaps in generations that have prevented farming knowledge from being handed down from fathers and grandfathers."
Consequently, many young farmers lacked knowledge, so the unit focused on training the province's Extension educators, many of whom had little experience and education themselves. But she said they were eager to learn, and truly wanted to be able to help their farmers.
Another strategy employed by the unit was what Chastain referred as "KLEs," (key leader engagements). Members of the team would meet with about 20 leaders from the province or district, including the district governor, police chief and others. The team would present their plan for what they would like to do in the district, and it had to be approved by the local officials.
The unit also engaged in what Chastain called "HAM" ("hearts and minds") stops. As members of the unit would make their way through the countryside in large army diesel trucks, they would sometimes stop in villages and just make themselves available to talk—through an interpreter—with the residents. She said this approach had mixed results, with people sometimes "coming out of the woodwork to talk with us," and other times being quite reluctant to talk with the heavily-armed American soldiers. At the HAM stops, they would sometimes do things like playing Frisbee with the local kids, to build goodwill.
Despite being in Afghanistan on what was basically a mission to nurture a fledgling democracy, the ag specialists did manage to provide assistance to the locals in things like teaching them soil testing, better ways of seeding crops, more optimal seeding rates, drip irrigation and pruning trees.
Danger was an ever-present issue. Even at HAM stops, there were always armed members of the unit on hand to provide security. Chastain said that some of the trucks did run over IEDs (improvised explosive devices) but that the bottom of the trucks were heavily armored in a "V" shape to diffuse the effects of the bomb, and that neither soldiers nor trucks were seriously injured or damaged. And despite that "there were plenty of 'bad guys' around who wanted to kill us," all 56 members of the 1-19th ultimately returned home safely.
Chastain said that looking back on the experience, she feels that it was impossible for them to accomplish everything that needed to be done in a year. But she does feel that they at least got a good start on their goals.
"Realistically, there's no way that we're ever going to get most of them out of subsistence farming," she said. "What they really need in Afghanistan is more industry so that so many of their people don't have to farm. But I believe we connected the people to their government more than had ever happened before. They at least knew who their government officials were, and saw their faces. And we had five more Indiana teams that followed us that were able to build on what we'd started."
Chastain said that after six years, the National Guard ADT presence in Afghanistan was phased out as a part of the overall U.S. troop reduction from that country. Over that period of time, she believes that the original mission, connecting the people to their government, had been largely accomplished.
Despite the dangers, the separation from family, and challenges, Chastain said that given the chance, she'd gladly go again.
"I loved seeing how we could help, and I loved the experience of something different," she said. "It was also a special time for our unit. During those times we grew much closer together and become a real family. Some of the guys on that deployment are now some of my closest lifelong friends."
After returning from Afghanistan, Chastain was contacted by AgriAbility, a national and state program located at Purdue University, to work as a veterans outreach coordinator. A USDA-affiliated program, AgriAbility serves farmers and other rural residents with disabilities. Chastain said that in this role, she works with veterans across the country who could benefit from AgriAbility's programs.
She said there was a surprising number of veterans, particularly post 9-11, who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries. Many have difficulties holding down a regular job, and find themselves attracted to agriculture.
"There's something about being outside and putting their hands in the soil and growing something, or taking care of an animal, that's been proven to be very therapeutic for them," she said. "It gives them a purpose in life that we call 'the next mission.'"
Regarding AgriAbility's regular program for farmers and rural residents, Chastain said that when someone applies for assistance, an assessment is first done to determine the applicant's need. Then a plan can be developed to address that need. Some of these interventions include adding a lift or other adaptive devices to help a farmer in a wheelchair be able to get into his tractor and continue farming. But other AgriAbility resources are for more "ordinary" problems.
"One of the biggest problems we encounter is farmers who have arthritis," she said. "Farmers are getting older, and it's almost the exception for them not to have arthritis. Or someone may have a bad knee or other limiting condition. We have lots of programs and an extensive supply of adaptive tools and devices that can help them."
For more information on AgriAbility and resources available, visit https://engineering.purdue.edu/~bng/index.php.
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