SAC MAN IS SOON BOLIVIA-BOUND
SAC MAN IS SOON BOLIVIA-BOUND
Arnoud Hameleers is leaving SAC to begin a four-year contract with the Dutch government in Bolivia after spending eight years at SACs Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries. The project is part of a Dutch programme of development aid, aiming to lift productivity of Bolivian farmers from what is often little more than subsistence agriculture.
His home for the next four years will be 4000m above sea level in the high altitude plains where a short growing season limits production and leaves little more than subsistence farming.
He will be linked to both agricultural and veterinary universities at Potosi and Sucre. The latter is at 2000m where the land is more productive and herds of 20 dairy cows are not unknown. One improvement programme already in place loans a quality Holstein Friesian cow to a farmer on condition he pays back a heifer in two years time.