Roots of Peace - Beyond 2014
Roots of Peace will lead a delegation to visit the grape vineyards and market center in Mirbachakot area of Shamali in Kabul.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS: Mohammed Shafi Anwary Spokesperson +93799181313 shafi.anwary@rootsofpeace.org
Roots of Peace—Beyond 2014
August 28, 2013—Kabul, Afghanistan—Roots of Peace, an international non-profit organization, celebrates a decade of success with its agribusiness model impacting over one million farmers and families in all 34 provinces. Afghanistan is a country 80% dependent upon agriculture, in Afghanistan Roots of Peace is working to modernize the income potential of farmers through improved production methods, as well as world-class export and marketing practices, through funding USAID, USDA, DOD, EU, GTZ, ADB and The World Bank.
On Thursday August 29, 2013 at 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon, Mrs. Heidi Kuhn, Founder/CEO, Roots of Peace will lead a delegation to visit the grape vineyards and market center in Mirbachakot area of Shamali in Kabul. Roots of Peace through its various projects nationwide has assisted farmers to improve traditional methods of grape farming to modern trellis posts which has resulted to higher quality and increased income for the farmers and traders. Roots of Peace through USAID funding has also built a Market Center in Mirbachakot that includes a pack house and cold storage facility which is currently used by Afghan traders for reefer shipments of different fruits to International markets. During this delegation visit, Media colleagues will have the chance to see the farms, harvesting of fresh grapes, interview with farmers and visit to the Market center. Journalists will also have the opportunity to visit the Kyleigh Kuhn School in Mirbachakot built by millions of pennies raised by American children.
As U.S., NATO and the Afghan government discuss military troop ‘draw-down’ from Afghanistan, Roots of Peace is coordinating the ‘build-up’ of agricultural resources nationwide to improve farming techniques and outreach to foreign markets promoting the quality of Afghan agricultural products. Focusing on growth and sustainability, Roots of Peace has already planted 5 million fruit trees during the past 10 years and plans to increase these numbers for commercialized farming. The outcome of this strategy will serve as a sustainable development model long after 2014.
Once dubbed the ‘Garden of Central Asia’, generations of Afghan farmers shared farming techniques prior to war. Yet the Soviet invasion and the resulting Civil War broke the agricultural value chain. In 2003, a typical Afghan farmer would grow grapes on mounds subject to disease and harvested in the hot sun at mid-day in burlap sacks and dragged to market. Roots of Peace intervened with improved farming techniques such as grape trellising, cold-storage facilities, corrugated packaging, branding, and opening of export markets to India, Pakistan, UAE, Russia, and Europe. The result has doubled and even tripled the income for rural Afghan farmers who remain dedicated towards the efforts of Roots of Peace during the past decade and for years to come.
For more information visit rootsofpeace.org.