National Guard will teach Afghan farmers agriculture

National Guard will teach Afghan farmers agriculture

A team of Georgia National Guardsmen will soon deploy to Afghanistan on a special mission to revitalize the country's agriculture industry.

The 18 member team was in Tifton today at the UGA campus getting some hands on training from specialists with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

During the week-long visit, the guardsmen will be trained in agriculture-related areas such as irrigation, crop production and pest management.

The Guardsmen will arrive in Afghanistan with technology and agricultural knowledge to share with the Afghan farmers, who might lack the knowledge to produce viable crops and productive yields.

"Agriculture affects 80% of the population in Afghanistan, and it is their main source of income so anything we can do to help the afghans either improve their production or build new markets and help them understand going forward as we leave the country how to take care of themselves, then we are helping them, therefore helping us as well," says Colonel Craig McGalliard, Georgia Army National Guard.

This is the second of three Agribusiness Development Team units to hail from Georgia.

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