Reinvigorating the Fertile Crescent: US State Department, USD-C assist with agricultural development in Iraq

Photo By Cpl. Daniel Eddy | Sgt. Michael Garcia (left), a team leader with the 501st Military Police Company, Division Special Troop Battalion, 1st Armored Division, United States Division – Center, and a Miami native, escorts John Ellerman (right), an agriculture adviser with the U.S. Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Team – Baghdad and a Manitowoc, Wis., native, and other PRT-B members, Nov. 6, after they met with the dean of the Baghdad University College of Agriculture in Baghdad. The meeting was designed to develop ideas and methods to help Iraq become more agriculturally productive, enabling farmers to generate more income for their families.  

IRAQ

11.06.2010

Story by Cpl. Daniel Eddy 

196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAGHDAD — The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have sustained life since the beginning of civilization. As U.S. forces continue to help Iraq become a more stable, secure and self-reliant country, maximizing the benefits these ancient agricultural gifts have to offer has become a focused effort of the advise and assist mission.

Members of the U.S. Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Team – Baghdad and 1st Armored Division, United States Division – Center, met with the dean of the Baghdad University College of Agriculture and other Iraqi agriculture leaders, Nov. 6, at the university to discuss their joint efforts to help the Abu Ghraib area be more agriculturally productive.

“The goal is to get [Iraqis] back to work, and to get their land back into production so they can start generating income and supporting their families,” said John Ellerman, an agriculture adviser with PRT-B and a Manitowoc, Wis., native. “Also, it helps stabilize the economy.”

Ellerman said the first step in making Iraq’s land productive again was to repair the damaged and broken irrigation systems. He said, for the most part, all of the irrigation systems have now been restored in the Baghdad area and the next step is to have the farmers plow and plant their land.

Lt. Col. David Volkman, civil affairs planning team chief with 1st Armd. Div., and a Maineville, Ohio, native, said the university has branch campuses which offer courses teaching farmers the fundamentals of horticulture and animal husbandry. When farmers go to the courses, they are taught about fertilization, pesticide use, drip irrigation and improved breeding of livestock.

He said one way the PRT-B is helping is by rebuilding facilities to make the university more suitable for education. The PRT-B also built an artificial insemination lab, to improve livestock breeding and a soils lab, to ensure proper nutrients are in the soil used to grow plants.

Volkman said one piece of technology that has been particularly effective in Iraq is the greenhouse. This development has become a huge project in Iraq over the past several years, because it is a great way to grow plant life in an arid climate.

Ellerman said there are close to 1,000 greenhouses in the Baghdad area that have been provided to farmers either by the PRT or the U.S. military. Iraqi farmers have bought countless more using their own funds.

Currently, the PRT-B and USD-C are using CERP funding to provide tractors to the university, which will share the tractors with farmers’ associations to allow members to plow and make their land more productive. In return, the farmers will help provide information to the university on the maintenance and care of the tractors.

Ellerman said, in the future, the PRT will increase its focus on assisting and improving the productivity of dairy farmers, an industry with the potential to generate tens of millions of dollars and have a significant impact on the economy.

• Date Taken: 11.06.2010
• Date Posted: 11.17.2010 05:25
• Story ID: 60305
• Location: IQ