Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghan soybean project

Call it the great American soybean heist, the latest tale of U.S. taxpayer abuse to emanate from Afghanistan.

Despite clear evidence that Afghanistan’s arid soil was a bad place to grow soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $34.4 million trying to establish the crop in that country, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

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The money was routed to a trade group, the American Soybean Association, as part of a humanitarian effort to improve food security and reduce dependence on food imports, but federal watchdogs found the idea was poorly conceived however well-intentioned.

Of most concern, the federal agency apparently ignored studies by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development that concluded soybeans were inappropriate for conditions and farming practices in Afghanistan.

“I understand that Afghanistan’s operating environment poses daunting challenges for reconstruction and development programs, and that any project in the country is bound to meet its fair share of difficulties,” Inspector General John F. Sopko wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack made public Thursday.

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“However, what is troubling about this particular project is that it appears that many of these problems could reasonably have been foreseen and, therefore, possibly avoided,” Mr. Sopko added.

The studies proved to be true. Afghan farmers produced negligible amounts of soy, and the sustainability of the major soybean processing facility is in serious doubt because there is not enough product for the facility to be economically viable, investigators found.

Furthermore, there isn’t a significant demand for soybean products in Afghanistan, according to SIGAR’s analysis.

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In its response to Mr. Sopko’s letter, the USDA acknowledged that the program’s success was uncertain.

“To date, positive outcomes for soybean production and the long-term operation of the soy processing plant have not occurred,” agency officials wrote, adding that the USDA and the soybean lobby were negotiating plan modifications to address those issues.

For ignoring scientific evidence and spending humanitarian dollars on a project with a high risk of failure, the USDA and the American Soybean Association win this week’s Golden Hammer, a distinction from The Washington Times highlighting examples of federal misspending, waste, fraud or abuse.

“This is a good example of what happens when we have an agency like the USDA that’s pushing a policy that’s wanting to plant for K Street instead of Main Street,” said Joshua Sewell, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense.

“It’s amazing that they would do that, the fact that they didn’t do a feasibility study before embarking on this large project is just indicative of a problem in planning,” Mr. Sewell said. “We see that a lot in USDA. If you’re going to undertake these kinds of projects, you need to do your research to see if there is even a chance of succeeding.”

In an email statement to The Times, the USDA said it would continue with the program and wait for final analysis to determine the project’s actual profitability.

“USDA believes that this is a premature judgment on the American Soybean Association’s program. There have been varying studies concerning the viability of soybean production in Northern Afghanistan. The project’s activities will end in December 2014, and USDA will make a final evaluation on the project after all results are received.”