Kentucky Soldiers Teach Afghan Farmers Modern Techniques

Some Kentucky soldiers in Afghanistan are working with farmers there on ways to improve their agricultural and business techniques.An Agribusiness Development Team from the Kentucky National Guard has been operating there since August. The team’s commander, Col. Mike Farley, says a big part of the mission is to help update methods for Afghan farmers.“They’re literally two and three hundred years behind us with equipment and processing and… a lot of the problems that we have is water," says Farley. "They have plenty of water here through the river systems, but getting it to the crops is a big issue, because there’s no electricity.”Farley says they’ve worked on projects from restoring the honeybee population to building greenhouses. Another major problem facing Afghan farmers is having the business to support their efforts, because the area is so poor.Another Kentucky Air National Guard team is already preparing to replace Farley’s team later this year.Farley spoke on Thursday’s “State of Affairs” program.