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Alternative Income for Afghanistan’s Rural Population

Canadian Dimension, March 11th, 2008

Several months ago Alex R. Mack forwarded a proposal to Dr.Paul Comeau, Director, Canadian Experiment Controller, Canadian Forces Experimentation Centre, Shirley’s bay, Ottawa.

This was a proposal for making it financially advantageous for the farmers of Afghanistan to grow wheat instead of poppy and to provide a market for the wheat. This would introduce money and structural development directly into the rural regions, and minimize the money going to the support of the Taliban from the poppy drug trade. The support of the military would be essential for the protection of the distribution of the seed grain at seeding and for the collection of the grain at harvest time as the war lords would vigorously object to their loss of income from poppy.

The cost of the Afghanistan Wheat Board responsible for buying and marketing the grain would be $1 billion which would be markedly less than the current cost for of military operations which are appearing futile. The US has budgeted around $10 billion for their Afghanistan operation in 2008. The Europeans and the US for many years have heavily subsidized the support for growing of wheat in their respective countries. So this would not represent a change in agricultural policies in their countries.

Comments?

Canadian Dimension Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension weblog editor and a Montreal-based journalist at a weekly newspaper. Read other posts by Canadian Dimension.

2 Comments

  1. Comment by Sean on March 11th, 2008 at 3:59 pm:

    I think this idea has merit but is still a long way away. The current “plan” and offensive against poppy growers has definitely proved to be ineffective, largely victimizing the poorest farmers who cannot afford to bribe local officials for protection from crop destruction. If an artificial market for wheat were created and safeguarded by the military, this could provide the incentive for some farmers to switch to ordinary crops of their own volition. But the current security status, coupled with rampant corruption in police/official ranks, pretty much rules this out as an option anytime soon. Until the warlords can be brought into the political process and convinced to assist with the reconstruction and institution building, none of these great endeavours will be possible.

  2. Comment by Matt Brett on March 11th, 2008 at 4:36 pm:

    Killing ourselves in Afghanistan:

    http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/03/10/taliban/index.html

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