PRTs

One doesn't hear much about the PRTs - the provincial reconstruction teams scattered throughout Afghanistan, providing education, technical advice and resources for agricultural and other endeavors. As the United States and other country withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the teams are heading home, too, but not before cutting ribbons on projects intended to help Afghan people into the future.

A PRT team and Farah City officials celebrated the completion of a demonstration greenhouse project -  "intended to connect Farahi farmers with new and innovative techniques to improve crop yields and profit margins," reports Lt. j.g. Matthew Strong for DVIDS, Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System. 

The greenhouse was a joint venture of the PRT; Abdul Manan Matin, head of the Farah Directorate of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock; and US AID. The organizers hope the greenhouse as a model for farmers to use in building their own facilities and develop Afghan agribusiness.

Strong quotes Matin in his article: "I want this facility to be like a home for Farahi farmers... a place where farmers can come to learn new techniques that help them make more money and support their families."

Fear of Beauty focuses on an PRT agricultural team working from an outpost in northern Helmand Province.