Cash Cow

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That has obviously been Washington D.C.‘s motto since the “New Deals” Roosevelt administration and continues to be yet today.  The Bush administration was under the impression that destroying the poppy crops in Afghanistan would be the push Afghan farmers needed to get them to produce legal crops. It didn’t work. The opium trade is bigger and richer than ever. Up steps the Obama administration with a revised plan to provide the Afghan Agriculture Ministry with twenty million in funding in order to aide them in getting the resources, expertise and services  to Afghan farmers for the production of legitimate crops. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has spoken of the utmost importance in making sure Afghan farmers understand the value and opportunity of legal crops. I’m sure they do, Afghan farmers were once major exporters of dried fruit and nuts. I’m also sure they understand the cash cow they have in poppy crops; a crop that is a lot less labor intensive and definitely a lot more lucrative.