In Mazar-e-Sharif, the visit began with a tour of our cooperator's farm trials, as seen above. The production system of vegetables is largely on these 1m beds with furrow irrigation.
Once settled in the faculty, seminars on soil erosion and composting were held, with Matt presenting and Hussain offering translation. The seminars in Mazar-e-Sharif were very well attended, with the majority of the faculty students interested and interactive.
After the seminar on composting, the students were instructed by Matt & Hussain in constructing and maintaining composte heaps. They collected material from obliging ditches & fields. By the end of the autumn, the students announced that their project was a success and were looking for places to use the composte.
The most interesting stop was in Bamiyan, a province known for its high desert environment, a bit like the area to the south of Bend, Oregon, but with less native vegetation. It is less accessible than other provinces, and therefore, most farmers employ traditional methods of agricultural production. An oxen driven plow is a common site.
In 2001, Bamiyan was made known to the world when the ancient Buddha statues in man-made caves were blown up. Currently, UNESCO and other organizations are attempting to restore the sites, as evident behind Matt & Hussain. The smaller caves were dwellings for monks and other religiously significant statues. 
The visit to the Faculty of Agriculture at Bamiyan was similarly rewarding. Students were eager to participate in the seminars at took to the fields with vigor to collect the initial batch of greens for the composte pit. Yes, Matt got quite a workout during these visits!
Two of last year's graduates of Kabul University's Faculty of Agriculture are now working in the Horticulture Department of Bamiyan University; they are pictured above between Matt & Joern. The other two are also professors in the Faculty of Agriculture. 
Herat is undeniably a city with a living history. Much effort has been taken in recent years to rehabilitate & restore the ancient sites, such as this fortress, from which a view of the entire city can be taken, as seen behind Joern.
Herat University's Faculty of Agriculture is promising, with a motivated Dean, a new building under construction, and a new site for the development of a student farm. Surprisingly, the local PRT has also taken an interest in developing the farm, and has helped to prepare the land & construct a greenhouse. Before these were under way, one of the prides of the faculty was a large farm 20 km outside of the city. The greenhouse and the once flower gardens are in the picture above. 
Because of its distance from Herat University, the historic faculty farm has been under-utilized and neglected. Added to this, the environment of Herat, as throughout most of Afghanistan, is semi-arid to desert. Surface water, though abundant seasonally & regionally, is largely not captured. Subterranean water is deep (and deepening), and takes significant energy to pump. Hence, many, if not most, cropland is under-irrigated, and therefore, lacks the bright verdant hues of truly productive croplands. 