Clemson hosts Washington officials for discussion of overseas aid

Published: September 18, 2012

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah, left, and Sen. Lindsay Graham discuss overseas aid. image by: Patrick Wright
Clemson University

CLEMSON — The U.S. must sustain a robust foreign assistance program because the price of disengagement is unacceptable. But the 1 percent of the federal budget that funds America’s overseas aid initiatives has to be wisely spent, two leading Washington officials said Tuesday during a visit to the main campus.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) participated on panel moderated by Clemson University President James F. Barker during a daylong visit to Upstate South Carolina.

During a discussion in the Self Auditorium at the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs, the officials said America’s global leadership role is as important as ever and continues to be a top priority.

On trips to Afghanistan and other regions, Graham said he has seen firsthand how communities benefit from a regular and clean water supply, healthy livestock, and fertile soil. Clearing an area is a military operation, Graham said, but holding and building is a foreign assistance program.

“You have to provide the people the ability to sustain the fight,” Graham said. “Most of all, you give them hope.

“It works, because I have seen it up close.”

Shah told Clemson students to use the skills they develop during their studies and apply them to a wide variety of international programs. Through a network of worldwide partners, students can match their interests with partners and programs around the world.

Science, technology and innovation are critical to sustain U.S. aid efforts overseas, Shah said. In agriculture, research has eliminated crop disease and prevented famine. Such experiences can be as diverse as helping a newborn child survive or help feed a village.

“Your technical skills are incredibly valuable,” Shah said.

The U.S. has a history of aiding regions overseas through humanitarian and economic assistance, and U.S. universities have played an important role to advance this work. At Clemson, the university has developed innovative approaches that support U.S. overseas aid efforts.

One such initiative is participation in a groundbreaking program that trains S.C. Army National Guard units as Extension agents deployed in impoverished areas where agriculture is the only food source.

During their visit to Clemson, Shah and Graham visited Clemson’s Small Ruminant Animal Farm for a briefing on the university’s Afghanistan Agribusiness Development Team Training Program.

Beginning in 2009, and now in its third class, Clemson’s program trains S.C. National Guard soldiers to help farmers in Afghanistan with newer agricultural techniques.

National Guard Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) members conduct similar roles to Clemson Extension agents after receiving training from Clemson faculty and other groups.

On- and off-campus training includes classes on agribusiness and marketing development, soil science and crop production, food microbiology, safety and preservation, livestock management, and Extension program development.

The U.S. military recognized the need for such teams in late 2006. Across Afghanistan, Agriculture Development Teams from more than a dozen states, including Indiana, Tennessee and Texas, have been trained by their state land-grant universities to assist Afghan farmers with their agricultural endeavors.

Many native Afghan farmers use hand tools and animal-drawn equipment to cultivate their land in a country where only about 15 percent of the soil is suitable for farming. They face challenges such as mountainous terrain, lack of adequate feedstock, an often-sparse water supply and a severely under-developed agricultural marketing process.

Nevertheless, the country’s farmers are able to harvest wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton. Fruits and nuts are leading Afghan exports, including raisins, apricots, cherries, figs and pomegranates. Many of the crops are the same crops grown in South Carolina.

The Guard unit’s role is to use what the Afghan farmers have and help them develop the country’s agribusiness into a more productive industry.

Clemson’s President Barker said that in a country where about 80 percent of its gross domestic product comes from agriculture, it’s easy to see how these programs can help support economies like Afghanistan’s.

“It’s heart-warming to think that National Guard soldiers from South Carolina — trained by Clemson University faculty — help Afghan farmers stabilize and, hopefully, increase the economic impact of agriculture in their country,” Barker said.

Clemson’s Afghanistan Agribusiness Development Team Training Program is coordinated by Mac Horton, director of the university’s Sandhill Research and Education Center in Columbia and a retired S.C. National Guard officer.

While on the main campus, Shah and Graham also met with staff from The Tiger, Clemson University’s student newspaper.

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