Small idea making a difference

Published June 16, 2008
By Master Sgt. James Law
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- Provincial Reconstruction Teams are engaged daily in large-scale projects building roads, bridges, schools and medical facilities to help the Afghan government develop its infrastructure. They also contribute small ideas that have the potential for large-scale impact.

One such idea was to design and fabricate a hand-held seed spreader that can be used by farmers to spread fertilizer.

"Our Department of Agriculture representative came to me and said 'I heard you could design stuff, is there anyway to design a seed spreader?,'" said Staff Sgt. Tim Bayes, Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team Engineering NCO in charge.

Sergeant Bayes explained Afghan farmers currently spread their fertilizer by hand. This method places more fertilizer in some areas and less in others.

"If you go out there you can see the inconsistency in the growth patterns in the fields," said Sergeant Bayes. "If they can effectively spread the fertilizer so their growth pattern is consistent, it could increase their crops by 15 to 25 percent annually."

Understanding the impact the simple idea could have, Sergeant Bayes started the design taking into consideration the materials the local Afghan farmers have to use.

"We actually talked to our contractors and locals and asked what the people have around their farms," said Sergeant Bayes. "Nuts and bolts are pretty easy to come by, pieces of plywood or just chunks of wood, and tin cans or canvas bags were the materials we had to work with."

After one and half days of design, Sergenat Bayes met with the Department of Agriculture representative to review the blueprint and make final adjustments before building a prototype.

"It took me about half a day to build it," said Sergeant Bayes. "This is kind of different, a little bit unique compared to what we normally do, and it was fun to do it."

Sergeant Bayes added during a discussion with the Afghan government's Department of Agriculture representative the idea of having prisoners build the spreader for distribution was addressed.

"They were talking about using the prisoners to possibly build these so they could do it cheap, effectively and distribute them out, at least to get them out so the people can see what they are made out of and how they are made," said Sergeant Bayes.

He added once the spreader is initially distributed to some, the farmers could share with each other so those without could easily build one themselves.

"It not only helps them as far as income, but an increase in crops will also help supply and demand in the local economies," said Sergeant Bayes. "If it helps 10 farmers to produce more crops to help people, then it was worth it."