Courtesy Photo | A young Iraqi unpacks chicks in Hawr Rajab, May 6. Funds from the Baghdad-7 embedded...... read more read more
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By Sgt. David Turner
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – When Soldiers of the 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, began inspecting chicken coops in Hawr Rajab last December, they found munitions caches and bomb making materials instead of poultry.
Al-Qaida in Iraq fighters terrorized the residents of this community south of Baghdad, destroying buildings, stealing feed and killing livestock.
Although peace has largely returned to the area – agriculture, the main source of employment for local residents – is struggling to restore itself to its former state. With help from Soldiers of the 6-8th Cav. Regt. and the U.S. Department of State's Baghdad-7 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, farmers here are hopeful that prosperity will return.
Members of the ePRT, along with 6-8th Cav. Regt. Soldiers, distributed more than 13,000 chicks to 10 poultry farmers in the Hawr Rajab area, May 6. This delivery of egg-laying chicks is aimed at providing farmers with a more sustainable income for the largely family-based farms.
Mike Stevens, ePRT agricultural adviser, estimated 40 new jobs were created with the, May 6, delivery.
Stevens credits Soldiers with the program's success so far.
"All I had to do was line up a plan to get the chicks out to the farmers. The (Soldiers) risked their lives to recon these chicken coops," Stevens said.
The program to restore Hawr Rajab's poultry industry began with microgrants to help farmers refurbish their damaged coops. Last month, the ePRT distributed 3,000 chicks to area farmers.
Prices for poultry products have been inflated here recently, with local residents relying on Baghdad markets for meat and eggs. Stevens hopes to see reduced prices for meat and eggs in local markets as a measure of success for the program.
Besides lower prices and higher employment for local residents, the greatest benefit to farmers is a better working relationship with their government, Stevens said.
"This is all part of the membership drive that began with seed and plastic distribution. It's a way of encouraging locals to pay dues to get into the farmers union," he said.
The ePRT helped form local farmers unions as a way of restoring farmers' connections with the government. The ePRT also plans to provide agri-business training to teach farmers how to use their money wisely, giving them greater buying power.
Stevens worked with the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture to get the program work off the ground. The MoA provides vaccinations for the chicks, and in turn looks to the ePRT and Soldiers in the area to help farmers in the short term.
Stevens said one farmer who received the chicks, Kaleed Jasim, reminded him of his job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"He said it was very nice to see farmers (being) focused again in Hawr Rajab," Stevens said. "He's kind of like me back home. If something happens, I worry about my farmers, and you could tell he's worried about his farmers."
Jasim used to work for the MoA during Saddam Hussein's regime.
"He will be able to employ people with this business and provide employment to the industry he loves: agriculture," Stevens said.
The 6-8th Cav. Regt. is operationally attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga.
| Date Taken: | 05.07.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2008 10:44 |
| Story ID: | 19216 |
| Location: | ISKANDARIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 53 |
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