Agriculture Sector Needs Assessment Report Balkh Province · PDF fileAgriculture Sector Needs Assessment Report Balkh Province . December 05 – December 13, ... Survey Questionnaire

IPIA Report #1022016

Agriculture Sector Needs Assessment Report Balkh Province

December 05 – December 13, 2015

USWDP Training Room, Balkh University

Hamid Faisal

Agribusiness Program Manager [email protected]

Phone: 0798-987200

Kevin T. McNamara Ph.D. Professor of Agriculture Economics

[email protected] Phone: 077-9813162

Don Breazeale, Ph.D.

Agriculture Education Advisor [email protected] Phone: 0785-854-634

January 20, 2016

mailto:[email protected]




Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1

Connecting the University with the Broader Agricultural Sector ................................................................. 2

Objectives of the Balkh Assessment ............................................................................................................. 3

Description of Firms Interviewed .................................................................................................................. 3

Relationships between Industry and University ........................................................................................... 4

Awareness of other Parties Challenges and Needs ...................................................................................... 5

Perceptions and Attitudes toward Cooperation ........................................................................................... 6

Ranking of Skills as Perceived by Agribusinesses .......................................................................................... 7

Availability and Sources of Technical Assistance .......................................................................................... 9

Challenges to Agribusiness firms ................................................................................................................ 10

Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 11

Implications ................................................................................................................................................. 11

Appendices .................................................................................................................................................. 13

Appendix 1: Agenda ............................................................................................................................... 13

Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire......................................................................................................... 16

Appendix 3: List of training participants ............................................................................................... 24

Appendix 4: List of companies surveyed ................................................................................................ 25

Appendix 5: USWDP Training Evaluation .............................................................................................. 27

Appendix 6: Balkh Support letter ........................................................................................................... 28

Appendix 7: Photos................................................................................................................................. 29


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Introduction Afghanistan’s economy is largely agrarian with agriculture responsible for an estimated 23% of annual

GDP, industry accounting for 21% and services 55% (World Fact Book: Afghanistan, 2015). The World

Bank estimates that the agriculture sector was responsible for 50% of GDP growth in 2013. Half of all

Afghan household incomes are derived at least in part from production agriculture, and, agriculture—

production, processing, marketing and distribution—has the greatest promise of new job growth.

Agricultural processing accounts for an estimated 90% of all manufacturing in Afghanistan (World Bank

2014). Despite the potential of and recent growth in agriculture, Afghanistan remains one of the most food-

insecure nations in the world (D’Souza and Jolliffe 2012).

While postharvest agriculture has become the central focus for economic and job growth by the Afghan

government, development organizations, private investors, and donors (MoCI 2013), Afghan universities

do not offer educational programs that teach skills related to postharvest jobs, and no university in the

country offers degrees in agribusiness or farm management. This gap creates a void in college educated

Afghans with the skills needed to support expansion of the economy through postharvest, value-added

agriculture activities. Business growth is stifled due to lack of Afghans with training in the skills needed to

support growth in the economy.

In an effort to fill the gaps in an area critical to the needs of the Afghan economy, Purdue University (West

Lafayette, IN USA) has partnered with the faculties of agriculture at Balkh, Kandahar, Khost, Kunduz, and

Nangarhar universities to establish new undergraduate degrees in agribusiness. This effort is part of the

USAID-funded University Support and Workforce Development Program (USWDP), a project designed to

strengthen the quality and relevance of academic programs across all sectors so graduates will have the

skills needed to secure employment throughout Afghanistan. A major objective of developing a new degree

program in agribusiness making certain that students graduate with a strong foundation in agribusiness

skills that are needed immediately in the Afghanistan economy and, thus, offer students potential for

meaningful employment with competitive salaries. To achieve this objective of relevance, stakeholder—

both private and public--involvement must be an integral focus of characterizing the real needs and

challenges in Afghanistan postharvest industries and development of a curriculum that responds to these

needs and challenges.


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Connecting the University with the Broader Agricultural Sector Stakeholder or industry input into curriculum development is a foundation of modern curriculum

development (Edgar 2014). University faculty maintain on-going, formal and informal, interact with

individuals in stakeholder and industry groups to gain insight into the issues and challenges they are facing,

and to make certain that the skills integrated into the curriculum prepare students for successful job

placement (Johnston et. Al., 2014). While this practice is the norm for universities in the U.S., it is not for

Afghan universities. In fact a common criticism of Afghan universities is that they have no meaningful

contact with stakeholders and that, consequently, university curriculum lacks currency and relevance. As

Purdue initiated USWDP partnerships with the 5 faculties of agriculture for development of agribusiness

programs, the faculties agreed that an industry assessment would be a foundational activities to achieve

several critical tasks related to establishing a BS degree program in agribusiness. These tasks are:

1) Introduce potential stakeholders/employers to the faculty of agriculture; 2) Gain insight into the major challenges/issues faced by each business and the different industries

related to the broader agricultural sector; 3) Learn from industry the management and technology skills competencies critical for new

employees; 4) Make university faculty members aware of industry—private and public—and their needs.

In order to carry out industry assessments for the 5 target institutions, enumerator training program was

organized at Balkh University with the Faculty of Agriculture at Balkh University hosting two faculty

members from the each other four universities. The training, conducted by USWDP professional staff from

Kabul and from Purdue, familiarized the faculty members with the questionnaire and provided an

opportunity for the participants to practice their interviewing by interviewing each other. The first two days

of the training included instruction on surveys and questionnaire design methodology, qualitative research

methodology, interviewing techniques, and demonstrations on conducting interviews. Training participants

were introduced to the actual questionnaire to be used for the industry assessment and taught how to ask

the questions as part of a conversation rather than simply asking each question individually. The participants

also practiced interviewing each other to gain practical experience.

The 10 participants were broken into 3 groups and for the next five days each team was in the field

interviewing agribusiness firms in and around Mazar-e-Sharif. The practice interviewing was followed by

two days of training on data entry, spreadsheet use, and data analysis. Participants completed summary

sheets and answered specific questions concerning the survey findings. The final day involved completing

data entry, filling out the M&E evaluation questionnaires, and, most importantly, planning how to move


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forward with the bridge program at their respective institutions as well as how they will conduct a similar

survey in their own regions.

Objectives of the Balkh Assessment The overall objective of the assessment was to establish develop an industry-university dialogue to set

curriculum priorities for the agribusiness BS program through close cooperation with the agribusiness firms

in Balkh Province. All research involving human subjects was approved by the Purdue University

Institutional Review Board. The Balkh Province assessment was a training program to teach staff from each

of the participating universities how to conduct similar surveys in their own provinces, while completing

the process in Balkh. The Balkh site was used for training purposes so that the participants would be able

to gain some experience and understanding of survey interviews to provide clarity and direction as the five

universities begin development of agribusiness curriculums.

Description of Firms Interviewed Agriculture in Afghanistan is quite diversified. The agribusiness sector reflects these same trends. The 39

firms interviewed represented a diverse group. This sample diversity was intentional in order to gain a fuller

understanding of the sector and how the university might interact with the firms. The firms ranged in size

from a small woman’s group with 4-5 members packaging and selling fruit to a very large company with

52 administrative staff and hundreds of skilled and unskilled workers transporting and selling cooking oil,

milling wheat and marketing building / construction supplies and involving import / export activities. The

majority of the firms interviewed could be classified as “medium size” although there were some “large”

firms as well. Medium sized firms would have from approximately 10 to 30 employees and large firms

would have 40 or more employees, including a couple with more than a hundred employees. Small firms

had less than 10 employees.

Products produced by firms interviewed ran the gamut from nursery/ornamental plants, wheat milling, milk

products, seed production, vegetables, cooking oil, poultry, agro chemicals, cotton, tomatoes, raisins,

soybeans, cakes and biscuits. Many of these firms are involved with importing and exporting activities. The

processing activities were concentrated on wheat milling, cooking oil, and poultry products.

Employee numbers are directly related to firm size as would be expected. Overall the firms reported

relatively low levels of education for their employees. However, most of the firms also had at least one or

more B.Sc. employees. Some of the firms with technical products such as certified seed production also

report M.Sc. employees and a couple of firms reported Ph.D.’s, although upon further examination, these

folks turned out to be M.D.’s who owned the firms. The examples ranged from one of the largest firms with


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approximately 80 B.A., BSc. and baccalaureate employees and a medium sized nursery/ornamental

business with no university level employees including the owner himself.

Although markets exits, most of these firms face tariff challenges related to competition and/or increased

costs for their own inputs. Electricity outages also contribute to production costs. For example, one miller

said that every time the power goes out it costs his firm approximately $70 to restart everything. And he

often suffered from multiple outages every day. High electrical costs also contribute to high water pumping

charges for the nursery/ornamental firms in particular. Security and transportation costs are also challenges.

Wheat was reported to be imported from Kazakhstan and soybeans from Ukraine. Although wheat is a main

product of Afghan farmers, much of it is grown for home use and the rest is often of low quality requiring

blending for flour production with imported wheat. Wheat costs for imports from Kazakhstan and Ukraine

were reported as $300/ton and $600/ton respectively. Herat wheat sells for about $290/ton. Respondents

said Kazakhstan was main source.

Relationships between Industry and University As in many countries, agricultural education is organized around a very different model from the U.S.

Under the US land-grant model, universities are closely engaged with public and private agriculture entities

to get stakeholder input on curriculum, extension training needs and research agendas. Although Afghan

universities are responsible for agriculture education, they are not responsible for extension or research

programs. Those two components are the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and

Livestock (MAIL). The regional offices of MAIL are referred to as DAIL’s. As stated indirectly by the

several faculty members, “There has never been any reason to interact with clientele off campus because

we are a teaching institution.” Historically, MAIL has had contact with private industry, albeit somewhat

tenuously. In addition, MAIL has had little formal communication or cooperation with the universities.

The typical Afghan agricultural university does not have contact with private agriculture firms either—for

placement, curriculum development, or other reasons. Given these circumstance, there is little wonder that

the survey respondent noted that “universities, led by MoHE, have developed a curriculum in isolation

that in most cases is unresponsive to private industry.” In addition, the universities have evolved into a

system that teaches some theoretical knowledge but not applied or practical skills. Most Faculties of

Agriculture offer little if any practical training. One of the repeated themes of industry during the survey

was that “university graduates have a lot of theoretical knowledge, but they don’t know how to actually do

anything.” Many of the industry people surveyed said they preferred to “hire graduates after they have a


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few years of employment experience.” The problem is, however, how do graduates gain experience if

industry will not hire them?

In the last few years, perhaps due to some influence of foreign projects, channels of communication have

begun to improve between agriculture universities and the broader agriculture sector—public and private.

For example, in Balkh the DAIL Director said he had provided, “some limited equipment to Balkh

University.” However, it should be noted that this was only due to the graciousness of the DAIL Director

and there was not a formal agreement. During discussions with the Director, he mentioned that perhaps,

“We should establish an MOU with the university.” However, without additional follow up the idea will

likely not proceed. The Balkh DAIL Director said he does encourage “providing internship opportunities

for university students.”

Responses from private sector survey industry responses consistently expressed support for cooperating

with the university as they recognize that the universities represent a potentially untapped source of

knowledge. The Faculty members participating in the survey (as enumerators) also recognized the need to

establish communication channels with industry. The problem remains, however, how to establish formal

communication channels and cooperate in improving graduate’s skill levels? The bright spot is that all of

the parties involved are open to cooperation. All realize that graduates require a different type of education

then they currently receive in order to be ready for the job market upon graduation. The participants seem

to understand that mutual respect and cooperation will be required, because the current system is not

producing the desired results—job market ready graduates.

Awareness of other Parties Challenges and Needs Not surprisingly, both the private sector and the universities suffer from a severe shortage of funding for

any real reforms. Faculty members need graduate education and are under paid, university facilities are

generally in poor condition, laboratories and equipment are in ill repair or non-existent, electrical power is

unstable, and universities have limited operating budgets. Private industry faces many of these same

challenges along with a dearth of skilled employees. However, the private sector and universities both

generally have very dedicated Faculty members and employees.

The survey conducted in Balkh generated some consistent needs from the private sector related to employee

skills. Marketing, communication and technical skills were listed as the most important by industry. A

detailed analysis and breakdown of the skill rankings can be found in a following section of this report.


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The problem is that at the current time, private industry does not find new graduates with relevant skills,

the skills needed by industry—public or private. However, there was considerable interest and willingness

on the part of industry representatives to assist the university in curriculum development. The most

consistent response of industry was to provide internship opportunities for students. The DAIL Director

also indicated the same and reiterated that he already accepts many interns from the university.

Determining the skills survey respondents required was straight forward. The difficult challenge will be

identifying specific, economy relevant skills needed and implementing curriculum changes to address these

needed skills. USWDP/Purdue already is aware of numerous university regulations that tend to stymie many

innovative ideas. Changing a curriculum or developing a new one can be quite cumbersome and time

consuming. In addition, restructuring curriculum to focus on practical, allied skill development is a new

idea for most Afghan universities and MoHE. And, it is not clear that university faculty members have the

academic training to develop and implement a curriculum with industry relevant skills. .

Many of the regulations may have well intended reasoning, but seem designed to inhibit change. Everything

from hiring new M.Sc. people to implementing new courses presents numerous challenges. Working

through the university’s administration and with MoHE personnel will be crucial. However, it should be

noted that even those two administrative bodies can be resistant to changes they cannot understand or

control. Change will happen more easily if private industry will take a more active role. Advisory

committees are one method for this to take place. If nothing else, private industry input will apply pressure

to the universities. Developing a new curriculum may turn out to be the easiest part of this endeavor.

Overcoming bureaucratic hurdles may be the hardest part of updating the curriculum to address employer

needs.

Perceptions and Attitudes toward Cooperation It was evident that all parties involved in the Balkh agriculture industry assessment, private-public industry

and the university, agree that curriculum changes are required if academic programs are to address industry

employee skill needs. In our interviews and interaction with faculty everyone was positive about moving

forward with collaboration and coordination. However, the question remains, how will these changes

actually be implemented? For example, survey respondents indicated that past efforts implementing

internship programs have run into many problems such as transportation issues for students, lunch or lunch

money, and whether the students will be paid. In addition, there are questions about what the interns can

contribute (they lack relevant skills) and the balance between interns’ actual learning experiences and

providing manual labor for the firm.


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Firms are not aware of the challenges involved in hosting an intern and Faculty members are unaware of

the day-to-day realities faced by firms and they often lack the very skills that students are trying to acquire.

Therefore, it is imperative that there be an environment of cooperation between the university and industry.

Turf battles and bureaucratic hurdles must be overcome if the internship opportunities are to provide

meaningful experiences for the students.

Industry can play a powerful role in this transition. As mentioned before, industry representatives can serve

on advisory committees, allow students to conduct research projects under industry conditions, host field

trips for classes, speak to classes at the university, and cooperate with Faculty members so that “real life”

issues are addressed in class. In turn, Faculty members must be willing to move out of their comfort zones

and learn new techniques and more practical “hands-on” learning activities that can be incorporated in to

the curriculum. Another issue that Faculty members have raised is their need extra remuneration since they

are “doing” extra work. None of these ideas will be easy to implement, but if change does not take place

nothing will change and students will remain unemployed due to a lack of relevant skills.

Ranking of Skills as Perceived by Agribusinesses Afghanistan is primarily an agricultural country as the majority of people remain subsistence farmers. As a

result, universities have concentrated on producing agronomy and animal science graduates—a strong focus

on production agriculture. However, economic growth is tied to postharvest value added activities. While

production is important there is a critical need for agribusiness and postharvest value added education. As

reported earlier, curriculum changes need to respond to the needs of the growing agribusiness sector and

their required employee skills, which means a shift in the balance of academic programs in agriculture

faculties away for production toward agribusiness and value added postharvest education. The Balkh

Province Agriculture Assessment sought to identify the skills most relevant for the agribusiness sector in

Balkh Province to lead this shift.

The survey was prepared and reviewed by several people with intimate knowledge and experience working

with the Afghan agribusiness sector. The survey was based on the AGRIMASS survey originally developed

by Litzenberg and Schneider (1987). However, many changes were made to the survey in order for it to

more accurately reflect the Afghan situation. Data for the study were gathered using a structured face-to-

face interview with owners and managers representing agribusiness firms in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh

Province, Afghanistan. A 4-point Likert scale was used to show the relative importance of each

characteristic where 1 = not important and 4 = very important.


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Five groups of skills were developed; (1) Business and Economics, (2) Computer and Information

Technology, (3) Technical, (4) Communication and (5) Personal Qualities. Each of these main groups has

several subtopics lists under each of them. The following Table shows the rankings by the Afghan

agribusiness sector of the main groups.

Table 1 Most Valued Skills by Agribusiness

Skill Groups Average Value

1. Personal Qualities Skills 3.76 2. Communication Skills 3.61 3. Business and Economic Skills 3.51 4. Technical Skills 3.12 5. Computer / Information Technology Skills 2.97

The rankings from Balkh Province are quite similar to previous surveys of agribusiness skills by a number

of authors over the last 20 + years in several different countries including Armenia, Australia, Canada,

Uganda, and the U.S. Despite the heavy reliance of technical training in the agronomic and animal sciences

disciplines taught in Afghan universities, private industry ranks three other skill groups above technical

(production) skills. As in the other countries Personal Qualities and Communication Skills are highly sought

after, as can been seen from the rankings. Business and Economics Skills are ranked third followed by

Technical and finally by Computer / Information Technology Skills.

Table 2

Subtopics from Skill Groups Sub-Skills Average Value

1. Loyalty to Organization 3.90 2. Sales / Marketing 3.85 3. Foreign Language (English) 3.74 4. Positive Work Attitude 3.74 5. High Moral and Ethical Standards 3.74 6. Work without Supervision 3.72 7. Provide Leadership 3.71 8. Management 3.64 9. Email Writing 3.64 10. Finance and Accounting 3.62

None of the technical agricultural production skills such as agronomy or animal science that are currently

taught were ranked in the top 10 subtopics. Eight of the top ten subtopics were related to “soft skills” that

involve working with people and the number 2 position is sales/marketing. Only the number 10 position is


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a bit more technical, but rather than a hard science it was for finance and accounting that is normally part

of an agribusiness curriculum.

Table 3 Firm Type

Product Number of Firms

1. Import / Export of Inputs 5 2. Seed Production 9 3. Livestock 3 4. Poultry 6 5. Animal Feed 1 6. Agro Processing / Packaging 6 7. Greenhouse / Nursery 4 8. Beverages 1 9. Agri-services 3 10. Dairy Products 1_

Total Firms 39 The respondents were grouped into ten categories by firm type with the number of responding firms

provided to the right. Abroad range of firm types were sought out and therefore some of the types only had

one respondent. Only one of the 39 firms was owned by a women which wasn’t surprising given the cultural

environment related to conducting business in Afghanistan.

Availability and Sources of Technical Assistance The majority of agribusiness firms indicated that technical assistance is either unavailable (10%) or

sought from outside of Afghanistan (44%) particularly from Iran, Pakistan and India (Table 4).

Agribusiness firms at Balkh indicated that in most cases they receive training and information on new

production practices from NGOs like FOA, USAID, and SALT International etc (36%) while (21%)

reported that employee training is most frequently obtained/sought from outside Afghanistan (Table 5). A

much smaller percentage of agribusiness firms self-reported using government (3%). Importantly, 69% of

agribusiness firms indicated that they “never” use the university as a source of technical assistance or

employee recruitment (Table 6).

Table 4 Availability of Technical Assistance for Agribusiness firms

Technical Assistance is: % agreeing with Statement


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Sought from outside of Afghanistan 44 Available Locally 38 Unavailable 10 Not Needed 8

Table 5 Sources of Information / Training for Current and New Production Practices

Source % Agribusinesses Reporting

NGOs 36 Employees trained outside of Afghanistan 21 Self-research 21 Private consultants available locally 10 Equipment or Machinery salespeople 5 Experience from within company 3 Government 3 No Need 3

Table 6 Frequency with which Agribusinesses Utilize Universities for Technical Assistance or Employee

Recruitment

Frequency % agreeing with Statement

Never 69 From Time to Time 18 Rarely 8 Regularly 5

Challenges to Agribusiness firms Agribusinesses were asked to describe the challenges to operating their businesses. The lack of sufficient

capital and business loans (27%) and unfair competition/foreign products (20%) were the most frequently

self-reported challenges by agribusinesses (Table 7). Lack of government policy and support (14%), Lack

of Technology/skilled workers (8%) Lack of security (5%), stable electricity (5%), high taxes, corruption

(5%) and corruption (2%) are all mentioned as challenges to the production and operation of the


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agribusiness firms. Due to these challenges none of the firms surveyed operated in full production

capacity.

Table 7

Challenges Faced by Agribusiness Firms in Balkh

Challenge % Agribusiness Firms Reporting

Lack of Sufficient Capital and Business Loans 27 Unfair Competition/Foreign Products 20 Lack of Governmental Policy and Support 14 Lack of Quality Raw Materials & Machinery 12 Lack of Technology/Skilled Workers 8 Lack of Security 5 Stable Electricity / Power 5 High Taxes 5 Corruption 2

Summary and Conclusions There is an overall recognition by the faculty who participated in the assessment that their universities

would benefit from closer collaborative efforts with agribusiness firms. They also realize that the survey

data can help them design more appropriate agribusiness curriculums. The firms surveyed also responded

positively that they would like to help the universities produce more qualified graduates.

Expecting that these university faculty and firms will immediately work together to bring about change is

a bit too optimistic, at least in the short-run. Realignment of the current curriculum and direction for new

degree programs in agribusiness will take time. The inability to fund new staff positions will have to be

overcome, although it should be noted that DM Babury has committed to finding new positions for the

agribusiness programs at the 5 target universities. No one expects that the Faculties involved will cease

teaching technical classes. However, the identification of these skills as the most important business skills

enforces some sense of urgency. The results of this survey should be made available to Faculty members,

administrators, agribusiness firms, and most importantly, to students.

Implications There are a number of clear implications as a result of this survey: (1) it is evident that the current

curriculum being taught by the participating Faculties is no longer relevant based upon the opinions

expressed by the firms interviewed. It simply does not address the skills needed by private industry; (2) The

participating Faculty members have little, if any, contact or understanding of private industry and this

results in a misunderstanding of the required employee skills; (3) In general, the private sector has little


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understanding of the university, although some of them do allow student interns; (4) Both parties expressed

interest in collaborating to produce better prepared graduates; and (5) There are several bureaucratic hurdles

that will need to be overcome in order to design and implement an agribusiness curriculum. The challenge

for the Balkh University Faculty of Agriculture is development of the institutional and staff capacity to

restructure and develop its academic programs to meet the needs of the economy.


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Appendices

Appendix 1: Agenda

Day Time Topic Instructor

Day 1 - Saturday, December 05, 2015

8:30 – 9:00 Registration Hamid Faisal

9:00 – 9:30

Introduction, Purdue-USWDP Agribusiness efforts, Purpose of the Ag Sector Needs Assessment, Training Logistics

Hamid Faisal

9:30 – 10:30 Pre-test

Dr. Khyber Survey design and methodology

10:45 – 11:00 Tea break

11:00 – 12:00 Design and development of a questionnaire Dr. Khyber

12:00 – 01:00 Lunch and Prayer break

Introduction to Qualitative Research

Defined and Explained Dr. Donald Breazeale

Nature of Qualitative Research

Develop Explanations of Social Phenomena

Methods of Collecting Qualitative Data

Interaction with Individuals or Groups

01:00 – 03:30 Interviews

Unstructured, Semi-Structured and Structured

Focus Groups

Requires Collective Discussion

Action Research

Practical Interventions


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Day 2 – Sunday, December 06, 2015


9:00 – 10:45 Pre-testing and Survey methods Dr. Khyber

10:45 – 11:00 Tea break

11:00 – 12:00 Data Collection Dr. Khyber 12:00 – 01:00 Lunch and Prayer break

01:00 – 03:30

Balkh Agribusiness Sector Survey

Dr. Donald Breazeale

Overview of Questionnaire

Approach to Private Sector

Interview Practice

Group Interviews

Discuss the list of Ag sector firms Hamid Faisal Call 10 target companies for the next

day visit

Day 3 – Monday,

December 07, 2015


9:00 – 12:00 Interviews Don, Hamid & Faculty Members


01:00 - 04:00 Interviews Faculty Members

4:00 - 4:30 Data Entry and Submission of questionnaires to Hamid Faisal Hamid & Faculty Members

Day 4 – Tuesday, December 08, 2015







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Day 5 – Wednesday, December 09, 2015






Day 6 – Thursday, December 10, 2015






Day 7 – Saturday, December 12, 2015


9:00 – 12:00 Data Entry and Summary of the questionnaires

Don, Hamid & Faculty Members


01:00 - 03:00 Meeting with Chancellor Alkozai Don, Hamid & Faculty Members

Day 8 – Sunday,

December 13, 2015


9:00 – 12:00 Develop a plan for conducting Ag sector assessments at Kandahar, Khost, Kunduz and Nangarhar

All


01:00 - 03:00 Reimbursements, Training Evaluation forms, USWDP forms, and award of Certificates

Hamid Faisal


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Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire

Balkh University Faculty of Agriculture, Agriculture Sector Needs Assessment

ځی زراعتپوھنتون بلخ، پوھن –سروی ارزیابی نیازھای سکتور زراعت

Section One: General Information

بخش اول: معلومات عمومی

Date / تاریخ _______________________ Enumerator’s Name نام شمارنده یا پرسشگر / __________________________ Enumerator’s phone number شماره تلیفون پرسشگر _____________________

1. Business name نام فابریکھ یا شرکت/ ___________________________________________

2. Business Address/ ادرس شرکت _______________________________________________

3. Name of the interviewee/ نام مصاحبھ شونده ______________________________________

4. Title in the business / مقام در شرکت ___________________________________________

5. Education Level / درجھ تحصیل _______________________________________________

6. Gender/ جندر Male/ ذکور _______________________ Female / اناث ________________

7. Age / سن ________________________________________________________________

8. Phone, Email/ شماره تیلیفون، پست الکترونیکی _______________________________________

9. Number of years in operation /سالھای فعالیتتعداد _________________________________

10. Number of employees /تعداد کارکنان____________________________________________

11. Main products produced/تولیدات عمده فابریکھ______________________________________

12. Annual Sales volume (USD) /مقدار فروشات ساالنھ _____________________________________


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13. Where do you sell your products? (check all that apply): محصوالت تولیدی بھ کجاھا فروختھ و توزیع میگردد؟ (تمام موارد مرتبط انتخاب شود)

Direct distribution to consumer توزیع مستقیم بھ مصرف کننده / Local markets مارکیتھای محلی / Wholesalers/Distributer عمده فروشان و توزیع کنندگان/ Exported; Country (ies) include: صادرات: کشورھای شامل /

14. What are production capacities and current production levels? If not currently at capacity, what are the challenges:

و سطح تولید روزانھ فابریکھ را یاد آور گردیده و چالشھایی کھ سطح تولید روزانھ با ظرفیت تولیدی ظرفیت تولیدی فابریکھ فابریکھ مساوی نیست را عنوان کنید.

15. What technologies are absent or could improve processes: بود بخشد:تکنالوجیھای تولید و پروسس غایب کھ میتوانند سطح تولید و پروسس را بھ

16. How do owner/operators receive information/training on current and new production practices مالکان و یا کارکنان فابریکھ، معلومات و آموزشھای الزم را در بخشھای مختلف تولید چگونھ بدست می آورند


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17. When technical assistance is needed, it is: ھنگام نیاز بھ کمکھای تخنیکی، این کمکھا :

Unavailable موجود نیست/ Available locally در محیط و منطفھ موجود است/ Technical assistance is not needed. نیازی بھ این کمکھا نیست/

Technical assistance is sought outside of Afghanistan افغانستان جستجومیشود/ در خارج از

18. How are potential new employees recruited and selected? کارکنان جدید چکونھ استخدام و یا انتخاب میگردند؟

________________________________________________________________

19. What is the average education level of the employees? حد اوسط درجھ تحصیل کارمندان شرکت شما چی است؟

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

20. Have you used the university as a source of technical assistance or employee recruitment? آیا تا بھ حال از پوھنتوت بعنوان منبع کمکھای تخنیکی و یا استخدام کارکنان استفاده نمود اید؟

Never ھیچگاه/

Rarely /بھ ندرت From time to time /بعضی اوقات

Regularly بطور مرتب/


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If you hire university graduates, do they meet your skill need? کھ شما ضرورت دارید برآورده میتواند؟اگر شما فارغ التحصیالن پوھنتون ھا را استخدام میکنید، پس آیا آنھا نیاز مھارتھای الزم

No خیر Yes بلی

21. Does your firm interact with the university? If, so, how? Are there support activities or employment training that could be provided to you by the university?

مکاری/تشریک مساعی دارد؟ اگر بلی، چطور؟ آیا نیاز بھ کدام آموزش در رابطھ بھ کاریابی یا آیا شرکت شما با پوھنتون کدام ھ ھم دیگر موارد کھ پوھنتون میتواند حمایت کند دارید؟

___________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

22. Would you be willing to accept interns from the university?

؟ قبول نمایدتون از پوھن میخواھید محصلین "کار آموز" راآیا

No خیر Yes بلی _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Section Two Skills, Qualities and Experiences Needed

الزم دوم: مھارتھا، خصوصیت و تجارببخش

QUESTION: How required would employees with the following skills, qualities and experiences be to your company?

چقدر مورد نیاز شرکت شما است؟ تجارب ذیلسوال: موجودیت کارکنان با داشتن مھارتھا، خصوصیات و

1 2 3 4

Not Important

Somewhat Important

Important

Very Important

N/A

تا حدی مھم ھیچ مھم نیست است

بیسیار مھم مھم است است

مورد ندارد/پاسخ وجود ندارد

Business and Economics Skills

مھارتھای تجارتی و اقتصادی

1 Sales and Marketing فروشات و بازاریابی

2 Management مدیریت

3 Human resource planning and Management مدیریت منابع بشری

4 Finance and Accounting مالی و حسابداری

5 Inventory Management مدیریت ذخیره / گدام داری


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Computer and Management Information Skills مھارت ھای کمپیوتر و تکنالوجی معلوماتی

1 Microsoft Office programs (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, data bases) برنامھ ھای کمپیوتر (ورلد، ایکسل، دیتابیس)

2 Use computers in managerial decision-making استفاده از کمپیوتر در تصمیم گیری مدیریتی

3 Information Technology (IT) تکنالوجی معلوماتی

Technical Skills مھارت ھای تخنیکی

1 Crop production Knowledge دانش تولید غلھ جات

2 Animal production knowledge دانش تولید گوشت و مالداری

3 Food processing technology تکنالوجی پروسس مواد غذایی

4 Transportation and distribution of Agriculture products توزیع و ترانسپورتیشن محصوالت زراعتی


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Communication Skills مھارت ھای ارتباطات

1 Good Listener and Instructor رھنما کننده خوبشنوینده و

2 Express creative ideas verbally and in writing اظھار نظریات/اندیشھ ھای خالق

3 Professional telephone skills با مشتریان –مھارتھای حرفھ ای تیلیفون

4 Write technical reports, memos and letters نوشتن راپور ھای تخنیکی، یادداشت ھا و مکتوب ھا

5 Foreign language skills (English Language) مھارت لسان خارجی (انگلیسی)

6 E-mail writing skills مھارت نوشتن و بلدیت با ایمیل

Personal Qualities خصوصیات شخصی

1 Loyalty to the organization وفاداری بھ شرکت

2 Positive work attitude / personality / ability to work hard روش و رفتار مثبت / شخصیت خوب / توانایی انجام کارھای دشوار

3 High moral / ethical standard روحیھ باال / اخالق خوب

4 Work without supervision Self-confidence and ability “to take a chance” and handle stress / failure


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توانایی انجام کار بدون نظارت / اعتماد بھ نفس / اداره کردن فشار روانی، ناکامی

5 Provide leadership and make decisions توانایی رھبریت و تصمیم گیری

Any other needed skills specific to the business identified by the owner/operator:

کارکنان مھم دیگر شناسای شده و پیشنھاد میشود: یا مھارتھای الزم دیگری کھ توسط مالک فابریکھ


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Appendix 3: List of training participants

S# Name University Contact E-mail

1 Abdul Khalil Afghani

Khost University 707819000 [email protected]

2 Shafi Gul Shafiqi Khost University 773521933 [email protected]

3 Sayed Mohammad Kabir

Kandahar University

700302901 [email protected]

4 Mohammad Ismail Hashimi

Kandahar University


5 Rafiullah Rahimzai Nangarhar University

799 387620 [email protected]

6 Mohammad Tayeb

Nangarhar University


7 Mohammad Arif Shamsi

Balkh University 799125045 [email protected]

8 Zarir Sharaf Balkh University 793818899 [email protected]

9 Abdul Khalil Behjan Parsa

Kunduz University 700748389 [email protected]

10 Atiqullah Siddiqi Kunduz University 785605093 [email protected]










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Appendix 4: List of companies surveyed

S# Business Name Business Type Contact Phone Number

1 Seed Production of BaBa Dehqan Seed Production 700531001

2 Modern Agri Livestock Ldt Agri-Services

3 balkh poultry production ltd Poultry 799372743

4 banowan e balkh production and processing

Agri Processing and Packing 700522720

5 shir abad seed production Seed Production 93774006700

6 Amiri Agribusiness Company Seed Production 700503523

7 Karwan Sabz Agriculture Company Greenhouse & Nursary 779308283

8 Tajie-Talaye Poultry Cooperative Poultry 771006719

9 Mazar Sabz Gester Greenhouse & Nursary

10 Agricultural Services and livestock of Haji Abdul Manan

Agri-Services 790295100

11 Smaimiat Ltd. Import/Export of Ag inputs 798446084

12 Green Balkh Agri Seeds production and Servieces

Seed Production 700501051

13 Poultry Farm Poultry 778007229

14 mazar green house Greenhouse & Nursary 93796122975

15 Noor Agro Group Import/Export of Ag inputs 93708568169

16 Nasib Afghan Soybean Company Agri Processing and Packing 786123051

17 Nowbahar Arya Company Greenhouse & Nursary 777191520

18 Afghan Khalij Poultry 700349388


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19 Ghulden Afghan Poultry Farm Poultry 788977455

20 Bradaran Hamidi Group Import/Export of Ag inputs 791910711

21 Stanikzai Seed production Company Seed Production 786455545

22 Pakiza Dairy Products Dairy products

23 Tomato Paste Industry Animal feed 799387938

24 Suida Agriculture services Seed Production 700283878

25 Seed production Seed Production

26 Picking and Processing White Blue and Intestin of Nazar gah

Agri Processing and Packing 788697083 and 788880188

27 Wheat flour miller Import/Export of Ag inputs 788824942

28 Benazir Poultry Farm Poultry 793050329

29 Improved Seed Enterprise- Balkh Seed Production 799549807

30 Noor Mohammad Khan Seed Production Company

Seed Production 0791512003/ 0798016922

31 Arya Raisin Processing Company Agri Processing and Packing 794007373

32 Super cola and Maihan Mineral Water Mazar e Sharif

Bevourages

33 Khuaja mohammad Shop Milling 774403040

34 haji abdul aziz Shop Milling 799056172

35 Zafar Timore Company Import/Export of Ag inputs 7992192238

36 Behtar Livestock Farm Livestock 77191919

37 Samraat Ag Chemical Company Agri-Services 799205284

38 Bushra Bees Keeping Farm Livestock 785006345

39 Almobashir Group Agri Processing and Packing 798801111


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Appendix 5: USWDP Training Evaluation Evaluation Scale: 1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neither agree nor disagree, 4= Agree 5= strongly agree.

Average Part 1: Workshop/Training The workshop/training objectives were met. 4.6 The length of the workshop/training was appropriate. 4.6 The content of this workshop/training was relevant to your job. 4.7 The overall quality of the workshop/training was good. 4.3 You received enough information before the workshop/training. 4.0 The facility where the workshop/training was held was appropriate 4.3

Average Part 2: Workshop/Training Materials: The workshop materials were useful. 4.6 You are likely to use the workshop materials in the future. 4.6 The quantity of the training materials was appropriate. 3.9

Average Part 3: Workshop/Training Trainers: Dr. Donald Breazeale 4.4 Dr. Khyber Khishki 3.5 Hamid Faisal 4.9


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Appendix 6: Balkh Support letter


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Appendix 7: Photos

Dr. Donald Breazeale (Purdue University) trains faculty members on conducting the ag sector needs assessment survey at Balkh Province


30

Professor Mohammad Taib (Nangarhar University) and Senior Teaching Assistant Rafiullah Rahimzai interview one another to pilot test the survey questionnaire.

Groups A, B, and C work on entering survey data into a spreadsheet.


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The president of Almobashir food processing company gives a tour of the production unit to the faculty members

Dr. Donald Breazeale, Hamid Faisal, Rafizullah Rahimzai (Nangarhar University) and Professor Mohammad Arif Shamshi (Balkh University) visits Afghan Soybean Factory at Balkh Province


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Group photo

Group photo with Professor Mukmel Alkozai “Chancellor of Balkh University”

Documents

Agriculture Sector Needs Assessment Report Balkh Province · PDF fileAgriculture Sector Needs Assessment Report Balkh Province . December 05 – December 13, ... Survey Questionnaire