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