Saturday, February 26th

Greetings from Khujand, Tajikistan.

Here it is, another week gone by.  I left on Tuesday afternoon for the Northern part of Tajikistan, the Sughd Region, specifically in Khujand.  This is the city were I came in 2005 to establish an officer for the USAID funded AgFin+ Project.  IFDC, who I am currently here representing, was a subcontractor at that time, on that Winrock International Project.  It has been nice to see the changes that have taken place since my unexpected departure in 2005.  They have many, many, many more restaurants and shops now compared to when I was here back then. 

I spent the first two nights here in Khujand in a Guest House, owed by one of the ACDI-VOCA employees and his wife.  Guess they have lived here for about 10 years now.  The rooms were nice and we had a nice simple breakfast each morning for $35 per night for a single occupancy.  I have now been in a hotel in the center of town.  For foreigners the price is 180 Somoni ($40.18)/night and for Tajik’s it is 100 Somoni ($22.32)/night.  So for me, it is better to stay at the Guest House, because it is both cheaper and you get breakfast compared to here at the hotel.  But, there are a lot more things to see and do here in the center of town.

The first day here in Khujand was spent in meetings with the staff from our Project's North office.  We discussed some of their Grant Program requests.  The second day was partially spent in the office doing a write up on the Best Practices that are going to be covered in the various demonstrations this summer.  The target keeps moving every day, so it is really hard to stay focused on the task at hand.  But I am trying my best to get done what needs to be done before I fly out on the 7^th of March.  On Thursday morning, I accompanied Husnidin to visit one of the Grant Applicants that will be serving as one of the sites for our Livestock Premix Demonstrations.  I was really impressed to see the quality of these bulls.  The farm has about 100 head of bulls, plus some rabbits (large holes are dug in the ground and the rabbits develop underground tunnels – there is no way they will escape from those caves until they are taken out and sold or butchered for meat), plus some goats for meat and some ducks.  A very diversified livestock operation. Thursday evening after work, I was invited by Husnidin to have dinner with some of his friends.  I guess these guys get together about once a month, some being from here in Khujand, some from his home village and some now living in Dushanbe.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  Guess they liked me!  Well, for the rest of the story.  I learned that Boulder, CO, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, are Sister Cities.  Supposedly, in Boulder is a Tea House that was donated to Boulder by the President of Tajikistan.  Although not authentic Tajik food, according to the Tajik's, you can experience some of the traditional dishes.  I ran into someone the other day, after that evening with his friends, who said his grandfather was the one that build the Tea House that was shipped to Boulder and reassembled. What a small World we live in.  Will have to take Merry to Boulder to experience that part of Tajik history.  When leaving the hotel to go to that dinner, I wasn't paying attention as I walked down the stairs, and hit my head on a low enterance (see Husnidin standing by the low entrance - you can tell why I feel backwards after hitting my head).  I guarantee I haven't done that since, I start looking for it before I take the first step going down.  That cement archway doesn't move, I guarantee it.  Today, the Chief of Party for the Project received a call that one of our Project's employees was supposed to be at a meeting today, but had a pain in his stomach so drove back to Dushanbe and went to the hospital.  Turned out that he had a ruptured Apendix. Good thing he was able to make it back to the Capital and not have to deal with it in countryside, where health care is not the best.

Friday was probably the coldest day of my life.   We started the day by driving approximately three hours towards the Kyrgyzstan border.  Once there, we started our day by attending an outdoor Agriculture Fair, being sponsored by Mercy Corps.  Although they had a lot more people than the first one I attended a couple of weeks ago in the South, they had less Input Suppliers in my opinion.  We then held two Apricot training programs for farmers that will be part of our Voucher Programs for Apricots.  During the last training, I had to use one of their facilities (a photo was included in my Zenfolio photos previously) to relieve myself.  My legs were so cold that I couldn’t stand up from the squatting position.  Luckily, the walls were close so I could use my arms to pull myself up.  Then, until we left the training and got into the warm car, my legs just quivered from the cold.  I am told the temperature is much colder than normal and the rooms where the meetings were held had no heat.  Once we got back to Dushanbe and were able to have some warm soup and some Vodka, life began to get better.  On Friday night, some of the staff I had hired in 2005 joined me for dinner.  It was nice to be able to finally explain to them why I left so fast in 2005 without saying good bye.  It was really an enjoyable evening and nice to have Zumrad's 4-year old daughter join us.  I told Zumrad we need to enter into an agreement for a contract marriage between her and my grandson, Hunter.  AJ and Connie, are you game for this arranged marriage?

Today, we had another Apricot training; this time at least there was a room with a small stove that used both coal and wood.  The meeting site was the office for a program for woman.  I asked the head of the womens group, "out of the 1000 hectares of Apricots in the Collective, how many are owned by women and was told “you can count them on two hands – maybe 8 or 9 women are in leadership positions out of all the land owners".  On the way out of town, I had the opportunity to visit another site of where the Project is having a Beef Premix Demonstration.  Again, like the visit on Thursday, I was impressed with the quality of the Bulls.  This ended our time with one of CNFA's Volunteers, who was here to work with the Apricot growers of Tajikistan.  It was nice getting to know John, an Arkansas boy.

When we got back to Dushanbe, Husnidin and I had lunch with the owner of the beef farm we visited on Thursday.  He was accompanied by his Veterinarian, who Husnidin went to school with.  We had a nice discussion about various issues facing the livestock sector here in Tajikistan. One major issue it that the local Regional Governor has set a maximum price beef can be sold for in the market, unfortunately, that price in below the cost of production.  So, this farmer was saying there is no way he can continue to raise beef at that price level.  He was hoping things will change by next week and he can once again start to sell his cattle.  Husnidin, was planning to go visit his parents before we head back to Dushanbe.  His mother asked him to bring some meat, as the Regional Governor there has said no meat will be sold in the market.  I asked if those new Governors were farmers and was told no – does that sound like some of the decisions that are being made back in the U.S.  That reminds me of hearing people back in Michigan say “we don’t need farmers as I get my food from the grocery store”.

We had a group of 16 Input Suppliers, a University Professor, a Government employee who is going to help our Project sponsor an International Trade Fair this fall and two of our staff members go to Osh, Kyrgyzstan this week for an International Trade Fair in that part of Kyrgyzstan.  I am hoping to hook up with some of them tonight for dinner before they fly back to Dushanbe in the morning.

Tomorrow, I need to work here in the Hotel on some projects for next week.  I am told there will be a Staff Retreat in the mountains on Thursday and Friday and this information is needed for that meeting.  I learned something interesting on Wednesday.  Employers here can use 1.4% of the wage taxes they pay for sending their employees to rest areas.  So, since the Staff Retreat will be held in the mountains at a ski resort, the organization can pay for the retreat out of the money they would normally send the Government.  I guess they could also off rewards to employees by paying for their hotel arrangements for a holiday.  Neat idea that would be nice to see in the U.S.

Well, I better sign off for now.  Do check out my photos on Zenfolio, at http://www.zenfolio.com/farmeray/p828498799, as I will be uploading a bunch from this trip.

Ray

Saturday, February 19th

Another week has flown by.  Can't believe I only have two weeks and a couple days left before heading home on March 7th.  I am scheduled to leave here that Monday at 5:30 a.m., if the plane can get here (weather related delays are common) and take off from here.  Originally my return flight included almost a day in Istanbul and routing from there through New York and Atlanta before touching down in Denver.  Now I will have a direct flight from New York to Denver arriving about 10 p.m.

This week I continued with my daily massages through Wednesday night (5 total massages).  I treated myself to a full body massage on Sunday.  For $20 it is sure worth it.  Guess you can have one of those about weekly if you want.  I do feel much better.  As a result, have done some nightly walking when time permitted or I felt like it.

This week has been extremely stressful, trying to get the various reports that needed to be developed accomplished by weeks end.  They still need some additional information before they can be totally put to bed, but the bulk of the work has been accomplished.  I worked on an Oversight Strategy for the Demonstration Plots (see number and locations by commodity below),

Crop	Number of Demonstrations	Location of Demonstration
Apricot	3	Asht, Isfara and B. Ghafurov
Lemons	1	Qumsangir
Tomato - Greenhouse	3	Spitamen, Rudaki and Bokhtar
Tomato – Field Grown	3	Isfara, Istaravshan and Vahdat
Watermelons	1	Shahritus
Onions	3	Zafarobod, Shahritus and Qumsangir

and for the Voucher Program (see number and locations by commodity below).

Crop	Number of Demonstrations	Location of Demonstration
Apricot	3	Asht, Isfara and B. Ghafurov
Lemons	1	Qumsangir
Tomato - Greenhouse	3	Spitamen, Rudaki and Bokhtar
Tomato – Field Grown	3	Isfara, Istaravshan and Vahdat
Watermelons	1	Shahritus
Onions	3	Zafarobod, Shahritus and Qumsangir

Both Oversight Documents are very specific, outlining what will be accomplished and who will do it.  We are still trying to identify the various Value Chain Partners (Farmers, Input Suppliers and Processors/Dealers) that will be specifically tied to each activity.  Time is running out, as the planting season is quickly approaching, so this has to happen soon.

In addition, this week we spent a lot of time trying to identify what Wholesalers and/or Input Suppliers will be chosen to import the various Inputs we need for our Demonstration and Voucher Programs.  Since the deadline for responding to the Tender Announcement that went out last Friday was yesterday, all responses were opened at 4:30 p.m. and we decided to accept three bids for the Inputs: an Input Supplier in the North and one in the South to supply the seeds and crop protection products (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides) and one Wholesaler who will import all the N-P-K fertilizer for the project..  Once the contracts are signed, the items ordered, we will have to keep our fingers crossed that all items will arrive in a timely fashion so the project activities can be implemented on time.  Now we must identify Input Dealers at the local levels to actually buy the various products from these three Businesses and to distribute the items to the farmers in their areas who have been selected to receive vouchers that cover a percentage of the package price.  The vouchers will be for one hectares worth of materials.  The intent is to help offset the price difference from what the traditional inputs cost verses what these new and improved items would cost. 

Because of our work schedule this week, meals were mostly eaten at the same two places (the cafeteria next door for students and workers - guess they have these kinds of places throughout town) and a local restaurant that attracts a lot of families and young people.  However, on Thursday, there was no power most of the day, so the staff decided to go as a group to a traditional Tajik restaurant for Oshi palov, which is a Tajik national dish. It is a wonderful preparation of rice and meat served along with salad (we would call this pickles of different types - green tomato, pickled cabbage, carrots and tomato). Oshi palov is also served during weddings and festivals here.  It is basically a rice dish with onions, carrots, sometimes peppers and spices along with some chunks of beef.  Then, last night, Dun who is here from ACDI VOCA's home office and I decided it was time to let our hair down.  Since the week was very stressful, we decided we needed something more than our typical 20 Sonomi ($4.46) dinner - mine varies from soup and salad (mainly sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese) to a Donar Wrap (Lavash with sliced beef, French fries, and pickles) to Lamb Shashlik (BBQ Lamb with rice and Lavash). We ended up going out to a Ukrainian Restaurant that I had been to the first week I was here.  We actually were about to give the cab driver good enough directions to get us there and back to our apartments - Dun moved into the same building where I stay last Monday. So, instead of 20 Sonomi, my share of the bill was 118 Sonomi ($26.34), which included a Caesar Salad, two types of Ukrainian appetizers (a meat stuffed pastry and a mushroom stuffed pastry), bread, wine and a Pork T-Bone (definitely not as good as the Lamb Shashlik I had the last time) - thought it was going to be the Pork Chop I had seen the last time - it wasn't.  Will have to have pizza sometime before I leave here, but I am trying to maintain by diet - currently down 9.4 pounds since leaving Denver on January 15th and 48.8 pounds since last October's high weight, before starting the diet.  It is hard dieting here, eating out most of the time, but I am glad that I am still able to lose some and/or maintain what I have lost.  Was surprised to see I had lost weight from yesterday, after the meal last night and the Oshi palov the day before. Will try to be a good boy this weekend - food wise!

Not sure what is going to happen this weekend.  Currently at the office, trying to get motivated to do some refining of the documents that I worked on this week and see what else is on the To Do List.  It is raining pretty hard outside at the moment, since I got here this morning, so am not fired up about heading out too soon.

Well, better get to work.  I haven't been anywhere lately to take pictures, but if you haven't gone to my Zenfolio site and check out the photos I have taken since I have been here you should: http://www.zenfolio.com/farmeray/p828498799

All the best, until next time!  Ray

Saturday, February 12th (continued)

I couldn't wait until the next time I decide to write in the Blog - That massage was the best 50 Somoni ($10.27) I have paid since I have been here. I received a 45-minute back, neck and head message.  She asked how many times I would like it and I said, "you are the professional, how tense was the back, and what do your recommend?"  Her response was "depends on your pocketbook, but I would recommend five times in a row or 10 times every other day".  So she will be here at 3 p.m. tomorrow and for the next three evenings after that.  The back is still sore, but part of that could be the result of the massage, but I guarantee it sure felt good when she was doing it, almost feel asleep.

Off to a Korean Restaurant tonight, I think.

More later, but had to share my experience with the massage - Bud, now how much are you paying there in California for your massage?   Yes, had to rub it in!!!

Saturday, February 12th

Greetings for Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Boy, it is hard to believe that a week has gone by since my last entry in the Blog.  This has been a very busy week here in Dushanbe, although all my time has been in the office here.  The weather this week as been very interesting, with mixtures of snow, rain and ice.  It is my understanding that January and February are the two rainy months.  So if they do not get moisture now, either as rain or snow, it will be a very dry year for the farmers.  Today, there was an agricultural fair here in town, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture.  Unfortunately it has been raining most of the day.  But, I was very impressed with the display of fruit trees, grape plants, shrubs and other ornamentals on display.  It was evident, that various governmental groups were picking out items for community planting projects.  Even saw some police planting some shrubs near where the event was taking place.  Nice to see the MOA, with their limited budget, could organize an event of this magnitude.

This week we were able to move a number of things forward, with regards to items that have been holding up the progress of our efforts relating to the Project’s Demonstration Plots and Voucher Programs.  With the help of ACDI/VOCA’s Project Manager from their D.C. office, who is here for a month now, we were able to get the Tenders for the agricultural inputs and the sprayers needed for our Demonstration Plots and Voucher Programs posted in the paper.  We will have informational meetings on Tuesday morning for any Input Suppliers who see the announcement in the paper or who are contacted about it by our staff to go over exactly what they need to do, in order to be selected for the Tender Award.  We really need to be getting the NPK fertilizer and the various Crop Protection Products (insecticides and fungicides) into the country in time for the planting season. The window of opportunity is quickly closing on us, though. The letter asking for approval from USAID for the three (3) onion planters has been submitted.  Three groups of onion growers in the country will receive grants towards the purchase of this new technology.  Our project will then hold training programs/demonstration plots using this new technology.  The recipients will then receive the planters for use in planting their fall crop of onions.  Finally, approval was received this week from USAID for the purchase of 18 Tractors, from Belarus, as part of a Tractor Voucher Program.  The Project will cover a small portion of the cost (mainly the amount of what the interest on the loan would be, the farmers a portion and the farmers will obtain a loan for the remainder of the cost.  Unfortunately, because of the hold up on obtaining approval for the purchase, the cost has gone up about $1800.  The farmers will have to absorb that additional amount.  They will be required as part of the voucher program to use the tractors not only for their families but also assist other families in their communities to get their field work accomplished on time.

During the week we held a Skype conference call with the staff in the North office, to finalize the location of our 2011 Demonstration Plot and Voucher Program locations.  This has been a battle during the past couple of weeks, so hopefully we can now move forward with the implementation phase of the project.

Originally, I would be heading back to Colorado next Thursday.  However, USAID has approved me staying here until the 8^th of March.  So will be interesting to see if I am on that plane or not.  The apartment is working out nice.  Having Dun, from ACDI-VOCA, here for a month provides company for bouncing ideas off of and someone to enjoy dinners with.  Yesterday, the staff all went to a traditional Tajik restaurant for Lunch.  This was a nice team building activity/social event for everyone.  Guess they do this type of activity every once in a while.  I think we will be having the Staff Retreat that was postponed from last week sometime next week.  But in the meantime, we still have a lot of work to do implementing our demonstration plots and voucher programs.

I have been having some pains in my back this week, may have pulled a muscle walking back and forth to the office with my heavy backpack.  I have asked if they have any Chiropractors here and was told no. Well, I have an appointment in an hour with a massager.  If it works, the price is sure right, about $10 for an hour.  Will let you know how that goes next time.  I did just find out there is a Chiropractor here, the husband of a lady working with another NGO in town.  So may have a link to a Chiropractor now.

Don’t forget to check out my photos on Zenfolio at:  http://farmeray.zenfolio.com/p828498799

Ray

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Greetings from Dushanbe, Tajikistan

I have been told that it has been a while since I have posted anything to my Blog.  You are correct with that observation, as it has been a busy week here in Tajikistan. 

We left the office for the South, down by the Afghanistan border, on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for a Regional Agriculture Fair taking place in that part of the country.  When we arrived, the staff of Mercy Corps was frantically working to try and get the place ready for the next day's event.  We all prayed that night for good weather the next day, as it did not look good at that point and the venue was to have the fair held outdoors. The alternative, should it be raining was to hold it in a large theater type facility which would not have been conducive to holding such an event.  No place for the farmers and dealers to interact.  After doing what we could at the site, we checked into one of the two hotels in town.  We were told, “If you liked it, then it is the best hotel in town.  It wasn't too bad, although you needed to have full control of your faculties, as the bathroom was down three flights of stays and across the back 40.  Thank God mine were in control for once!   You will see a photo of what the toilets are like here in the countryside, so folks, hope whether you are standing or squatting you have good aim, as the hole you are trying to hit is pretty darn small.  Is sure looks so easy for folks here squatting on the side of the road to sit.  Guess experience since childhood pays off. When visiting that community a week earlier, I was told a foreign consultant, female, needed to use the facilities and would not use the local toilets.  Why was she here then?  When in Rome do as the Romans do. We had a nice dinner that night, as the team from our office, before calling it a night.  I was able to get to know some of the staff much better as a result of our time together that evening.

On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we headed down to the site of the Ag Fair.  What chaos was happening, dealers and organizations both were vying for the few tables and chairs that were available for their use.  We tried to set up our display at one of the tables in the tent that had been set up the afternoon before and was told that we had to move, as this area was reserved for some of the local dealers.  Since our crew was running around like chickens with their head cut off, I looked around and saw an open space with two shrubs that were about the right distance apart, so I told the crew to get some string and we will hang our project’s banner between the two shrubs.  While we were hanging the banner, a couple of the staff went for some tables and chairs and soon we had a nice display.  I must admit, I was very worried about pulling this off.  Well, the crowds were great and the people really appreciated receiving our educational posters and materials on growing apricots, lemons, watermelon, tomatoes and onions.  This particular area focuses mainly on watermelons, but also the farmers were interested in the other project supported crops.  As part of the Ag Fair, we said we would hold some training sessions on our pending voucher programs and also provide some technical information on the crops our project is focusing on.  The day could be determined a success, as farmers interacted with dealers and dealers established good contacts with farmers.   One of the dealers from the North, who had driven about 11 hours the day before to get to the Fair, had a great display of trees for sale; he/they had brought 350 with them and sold all of them.  He reached in his pocket, with a smile on his face, and pulled out a wade of money.  He was happy; the trip for him was a success.  Mercy Corps had estimated the Fair would go until 4:00 p.m., however, we were out of there by a little after 1:00 p.m. So, we headed as a group, both the carload that came down yesterday and the one that came today, to a local restaurant for lunch.  We all broke bread together before the one car headed back to Dushanbe.  Husnidin and I planned to stay another night, with a different driver this time, so we could meet with prospective farmers for our demonstration plots.  We used the spare time we had that afternoon, to go visit a couple of farmers further South, one growing onions and one who would be growing watermelon this year.  After visiting with those farmers, two of our 30 demonstration sites were selected, I hope!  When in the village, leaving the future site of the watermelon demonstration plot, I saw some plastic covered structures and asked if they were the Lemon Greenhouses that I have heard about and was told yes, so we stopped and I was given a tour of that structure.  While there, Husnidin was able to work with the farmer on some issues he was experiencing with his lemons.  Good Extension moment.  From there, we headed back to the hotel for a dinner meeting with USAID.  What a small world we live in.  One of the two folks we met with, was a former Peace Corps Volunteer that I met originally in 1994 in Armenia and again many times after that when I would go back to visit Armenia.  I think Chuck said he lived there for over 12 years.  We had a nice evening together reminiscing about our previous experiences in Armenia with the others at dinner.  Unfortunately, not sure we got much work accomplished that evening.  So, it was decided we would meet in the morning for breakfast and focus on work at that time.

On Friday morning after our morning breakfast, we started back towards Dushanbe.  However, we had previously planned to visit some areas along the way to explore where we would be establishing a Lemon plots this year.  While on our way to the village, we received a call from the office telling us not to stay to long before heading back, as it is snowing in Dushanbe and would probably be ice later.  We did go to one of the areas and meet with one lemon farmer, the site of the project’s Lemon Demonstration, last year.  He had an insect problem and again it proved to be an Extension Moment.  Before leaving the village, we spent a long time in the marketplace talking with input dealers about our project and the pending voucher program.  We also talked with some fertilizer dealers about the project before heading back to Dushanbe.  The closer we got to town, especially over the last pass, got interesting to say the least. When going through one town, near the river, we stopped and I bought a stringer of fish - good for the diet you know.  When we got back to the office, we had a short meeting with the Chief of Party for our project, about our meeting with USAID.  By this time, I was exhausted and ready to get to the apartment before the weather got too bad.  So when I got home, after cleaning the fish, I decided to put some money on my Skype account and call Merry, since she did not have access to Skype this weekend.  So the Girl ended up costing me $0.73 to talk with before going to bed.  Actually, called her a couple times before calling it a day, so now she is into me for $0.94.  What a great communication tool.  Here I am on the other side of the world and can talk to her for 2.3 cents a minute through the computer and you would think we were sitting next to each other.

After getting motivated on Saturday morning, I went to the office for a while.  For lunch, I went out with Husnidin to the restaurant we went to last Sunday.  Didn't like what I had today as much as last week, but it was still good.  This time, in addition to the Borsht, I was able to have a nice plate of tomatoes and cucumbers along with some boiled beef for the main course.  On the way home, I was asked if I would like to see where he went to the University and where he worked for two years.  This proved to be a good stop, as I had an opportunity to talk with one of Husnidin's colleagues at the University about possibly involving some of their students this summer helping with our many demonstration plots.  We will need to follow up this discussion more next week.  But he was very interested in the idea, as this could prove to be their final paper before graduation.  He said that would be one additional level of motivation for them.

Now time to head home and prepare a boiled fish dinner.  Since I had to go back and make some changes in what I had previously written, I can update you on the boiled fish dinner.  The veggies were great, the fish way to boney, so most of it found its way into the garbage, unfortunately.  More later - do visit my Zenfolio site from time to time to see additional photos that will be added when I have enough Internet access to upload the photos to my site. 

http://www.zenfolio.com/farmeray/p828498799