Alternative Income for Afghanistan’s Rural Population
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.
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