‘"The individuals I have selected have experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan and bring creativity, commitment and dedication to the task at hand,’ said Vilsack. ‘USDA is uniquely positioned to reach out to land-grant universities, agribusinesses and non-governmental and private organizations to call upon their expertise for this important effort.”’
The Agricultural Trade Corridors Working Group will be lead by Christian Foster, who is the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service Deputy Administrator for Trade Program. The Food Security Working Group head will be Ibrahim Shaqir, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Director for International Research Programs. Melvin Westbrook, Director for International Programs in USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service is slated to lead the Water Management and Watershed Rehabilitation Working Group.
The leaders of the group and the others who will make up the groups will work with the members from Afghanistan and Pakistan “to identify priorities and develop and apply appropriate programs, training, and solutions.”
The goal of each working group is to: develop agriculture trade corridors along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to facilitate trans-border trade; strengthen food security by collaborating on research to improve the production of fruits, nuts, livestock and other agricultural products and reduce post-harvest loss; and improve water and watershed management and irrigation methods and rehabilitate watersheds to increase crop yields and create jobs.
To read the USDA news release on the working groups, which includes a complete list of those will make up the groups, click here.
Posted: 10/28/09
