Speeches

Ambassador William Wood Remarks as prepared for delivery at Agricultural Trade Fair Kabul, Afghanistan

October 24, 2007

AMBASSADOR WOOD:  Dr. Asif Nadri, Special Advisor for Economic Affairs to President Karzai, Your Excellency, Minister Ramin, other members of the government of Afghanistan, other high officials of the government of Afghanistan, farmers and agricultural producers of Afghanistan, friends.  Thank you very much for allowing me to be here with you today.

I should also greet my colleague and friend, the Ambassador of France who is here, who has also been an important partner in agricultural development in Afghanistan.  The European Commission has contributed products to the agricultural farm here.  They’re not doing as well as the U.S. products, but they’re coming along. 

I also want to greet our friends and my colleagues from USAID who have worked so hard here at this beautiful fairground and also in the model farm that is just outside.  The most interesting thing about my many young friends from USAID is their enthusiasm.  They are enthusiastic for Afghanistan and they are enthusiastic for the farmers and producers with whom they are working.  For them, as with all of us, it is a labor of love.

We are honored today in partnership with the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, and the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce, to host the second National AgFair, a celebration of Afghan agriculture.

We are also honored today to dedicate the Badam Bagh Demonstration Farm to President Karzai and the people of Afghanistan.

This effort is only one example of the more than $500 million in agricultural assistance that the United States has contributed to Afghanistan in the last six years.  Agricultural assistance and alternative livelihood aid are second only to roads and electricity in our contributions and, in many ways, are first in our hearts.

This beautiful farm and the products and all of the booths around this courtyard demonstrate how different varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown using technologies that can increase the length of the season.  This helps farmers to grow higher value crops such as strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and sweet corn.  The demonstration farm also features new techniques such as trellising that enable farmers to double their grape yields.

Minister Ramin and people of Afghanistan, on behalf of the American people I am pleased to join with all of you to inaugurate this farm.

At this time I would like to ask Minister Ramin and Economic Advisor to the President Mr. Nadri to help me unveil the plaque.

[Plaque unveiled].

The Badam Bagh Demonstration Farm and this Agricultural Trade Fair represent business and learning opportunities for farmers and agribusiness partners to exchange ideas, facilitate innovation, and strengthen the agriculture industry.

AgFair builds on the Afghan tradition of Farmer Days when villagers gathered in the provincial centers to discuss agricultural issues.  AgFair makes every day a Farmer Day.

Today’s AgFair provides an opportunity for Afghan businesses and farmers to expand on traditional Farmer Day discussions and learn about new agricultural techniques, meet potential buyers and sellers, and generate business opportunities.

The theme of this fall’s AgFair is water, the source of life for agriculture, aimed to help Afghanistan rejuvenate its precious soil and stay green.

Just outside these grounds you can see the reservoir that serves the farm and you can see the irrigation system that ensures a steady, reliable, moderate supply of water to the crops here.  This is possible for all Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been legendary for its production of fruits and vegetables.  It is well known for its pomegranate, and I drink a glass of pomegranate juice every morning.  However, nearly three decades of conflict and several years of drought have hurt farming and local access to water, and markets has declined.

The United States is proud to be helping the hard-working farmers of Afghanistan to revitalize agricultural production and agricultural markets through a private sector approach.  This approach emphasizes high value market crops, import substitution, and increased exports. 

Only a few weeks ago, in a high level meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board of Afghanistan and international donors, we all agreed on the importance of free trade within the region to provide a market for Afghan agricultural products.

The fair hosts agricultural exhibiters from every region of Afghanistan as well as participants from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the United States.  All are here to exchange ideas on how to improve production, sales, employment, profit and exports.

In conclusion, just a short anecdote.  Before we convened for the speeches a journalist asked me if this was the future of Afghanistan.  I said no, it is the present of Afghanistan.  It is a present day, a today filled with hard work and hope and opportunity and development.

The future of Afghanistan is dependent on its farmers and its agricultural sector.  It is dependent on the hard work of the farmers of Afghanistan who are working for honest crops and honest products to serve an honest populace and produce better honest lives for their families.  Those farmers can count on the support of Minister Ramin and the Minister of Agriculture and the support of the entire government of President Karzai.  They can also count on the support of the European community, the European Union, the United States, and all of the other international partners of Afghanistan.

Often the news of military and police and security issues dominates the press.  But it is the smaller victories, the more intimate victories of family and village, of community and district and province that represent the hope of Afghanistan.  Nowhere are those victories more important or more personally felt than in the fields of Afghanistan and in the homes of the farmers of Afghanistan, and to all I wish success, prosperity, and development.

We join with the government of Afghanistan and our international partners in wishing all who participate in this event an enjoyable and productive time.

Thank you.

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