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By Maj. Dave Olson
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – For thousands of years, farmers in Ma Baynaa Al-Nahreen, the Land Between the Two Rivers, worked the soil to produce crops for their livelihood and sustain their existence.
Now in the 21st Century, new technology and agriculture practices can increase the farmer's crop yields to make the harvest more productive and to earn the farmers more money for their produce.
Senior leaders from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, attended the Radwaniyah Farmer's Co-op Building "ground-breaking" ceremony with their Iraqi security forces partners, Jan. 14, to mark the beginning of the project designed to assist the local farmers with new technologies in southwestern Baghdad.
The benefits of a farmer's cooperation association will affect the future of this area, said Raad Hanna, the 1st BCT embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team's agricultural advisor.
The association is working to bring 100 greenhouses and 20 tractors, plus farm implements, to assist the farmers in Radwaniyah and the surrounding area, explained Raad.
"It'll make a difference in the whole area," he said. "There will be training for the farmers to learn how to use the greenhouses and make them productive."
Sheik Hussein Ali Alash, the chairman of the Ma Baynaa Al-Nahreen Farmer's Cooperation Association, explained that 750 farmers in the Radwaniyah area of southwestern Baghdad joined the organization.
The farmers, who collectively own more than 14,000 donams, which is approximately 8,645 acres, joined the association to pool their resources and improve their ability to produce more crops so they can sell more agriculture products to the citizens of Baghdad in the various market places, benefitting all of the farmers as they enjoy more profits from their labor, Hussein explained.
During the ceremony, Brig. Gen. Faiswl Malikmhsen al-Talall, commander, 5th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, thanked everyone for coming to the ceremony.
"Thank you for your attendance to see the construction of Iraq," Faiswl announced. "We thank coalition forces for their contribution to this project."
The building of Iraq began after the security situation improved in the area due to the cooperation of everybody, added Faiswl.
After the ceremony, Sheik Ayad Alawi al-Jabour, the Tribal Support Council chairman, told senior MND-B leaders about the plaque he erected.
"I put Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond's name on the plaque to show the people how much the Americans have done to help us," Ayad said.
Col. Ted Martin, commander, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B, spoke with Ayad and several sheiks after the ceremony.
"[You] stood by us in the bad days; we'll stand by you now," said Martin, who hails from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. "The Americans are not going anywhere anytime soon. We're a team here – 4th Infantry Division and Radwaniyah."
| Date Taken: | 01.14.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.18.2009 08:27 |
| Story ID: | 28979 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 272 |
| Downloads: | 257 |
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