PARTNERS: Texas A&M

 

University of California (UC-Davis)

This six-year project, with UC Davis and Texas A&M University, promoted livestock sector development by resolving pastoral land tenure conflicts that had resulted from years of war, rangeland conversion, land grabbing, the expansion of villages, and village relocations.  It introduced Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) to new technologies in rangeland management and livestock production and marketing.  The $6.7 million project’s goal was to reduce economic risk for Kuchis, who are nomadic herders, by helping MAIL develop rangeland monitoring techniques and by facilitating the resolution of land access and tenure issues along important migration routes.  The project strengthened government capacity by training those responsible for livestock production, rangeland management, and land conflict resolution.  This included staff at the MAIL, the Independent Department of Kuchi, the President’s Peace Commission, and Kabul University. This project ended in October 2012. resource development; and, (5) reducing conflict and disease transmission between wildlife, domestic animals, and people.  As stated by Mohammad Wafa, a ranger in the Wakhan Corridor, “This project was not only important for us rangers and our community, we hope it will show the world that Afghanistan is truly rebuilding.”