March 31, 2008, New York, NY – Four years ago GPFA co-founder Bruce Freyer headed to Afghanistan with hybrid poplars from Oregon and funds provided by American donors to buy saplings for GPFA's first orchard enterprise program. Last October, Freyer returned to Afghanistan armed with a different set of tools-modern technical devices that will help farmers advance to the next phase as they bring new harvests to market.
With 2.5 million trees now in GPFA's program, farmers are reaping the benefits. GPFA's staff is preparing these new entrepreneurs to gain added value out of their fruit and farm forestry production. And during the harvest, Freyer saw that there was no better classroom for training than farmer Khalid's apple orchard laden with fruit.
Traditionally, Khalid would load up a tarp with freshly harvested apples and sell them to a trader at the farm gate. But, GPFA staffers trained Khalid and other farmers to measure, grade and crate their fruit to achieve higher value for their crops. GPFA demonstrated how farmers can use new tools such as "penetrometers" to determine fruit firmness, "refractometers" to measure sugar levels, and "sizing rings" to sort produce to market specifications.
The next step was to deliver the crated fruit to Khalid's new underground storage where he could hold his fruit to sell at higher prices when markets were not glutted with recently harvested produce.
With new tools, training in GPFA Farmer Field Schools, and underground storage facilities, farmers like Khalid see great promise for their farm-based businesses. With help from GPFA, farmers are beginning to form associations to supply credit and other agricultural resources. Khalid told Bruce, "GPFA is our hope, not the Taliban. Your help makes us partners."