Subscribe
Story by Sgt. Luis Delgadillo, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – To some it might be laughable, the economic welfare of an entire community relying on thousands of flightless birds; but in the farming communities of southern Baghdad, chickens represent a significant way ahead.
Helping these communities establish themselves as centers of poultry production is one man; a member of the State Department's embedded provincial reconstruction team, Baghdad 7.
"Some of these farmers had over 100,000 chickens at one time," said Mike Stevens, ePRT agricultural adviser.
Stevens, a native of Park Rapids, Minn., said that farmers from Adwaniyah, Arab Jabour and Hawr Rajab, lost their chickens to al-Qaida insurgents who took them when they moved into the area.
Stevens said in many cases chicken coops were used to hide weapons caches and the large spaces inside the coops were utilized by insurgents making homemade explosives.
Local farmers also reported that insurgents would seize farmers' equipment and strip generators for parts.
By starting farmers unions for each of the communities, Stevens learned of the plight befalling the region's chicken farmers.
With the assistance of Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Stevens began assessing the various agricultural industries which once thrived.
As part of his project, the 15-year veteran of the State Department, specializing in agricultural programs, also assessed chicken farms in the three tribal areas.
With the information he learned about the communities, Stevens set in motion a three-pronged approach to rebuild the region's economic infrastructure.
To boost farm operations, microgrants of up to $2,500 will be used to reconstruct dilapidated chicken coops and other farm buildings.
Quick response funds, grants of up to $25,000, will be used to restock vacant local farms. Additionally, disarming, demobilizing and reconstruction funds, money in amounts of up to $100,000, will be used to begin large-scale training and employment programs for people near factories like the Al Raad slaughterhouse.
Stevens identified a local businessman who owns the poultry processing plant, which can support a large workforce - up to 200 employees - and bring chickens to markets in the capital. Prior to insurgent activities, the owner of the plant contracted with many Hawr Rajab farmers to raise chickens for his slaughterhouse.
The owner told Stevens he would trade chicken feed and a monthly stipend with farmers who guaranteed him a portion of their chickens for processing.
The plant has the potential to jumpstart the region's chicken industry but before any profit is earned, both the factory and surrounding farms require funds to get going.
In the coming weeks live chickens will be delivered and the farms in the region will begin to reconstruct their coops, signaling another step toward progress for the citizens of Iraq.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2008 09:54 |
| Story ID: | 16642 |
| Location: | ISKANDARIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 234 |
This work, Coalition Forces jumpstart ailing poultry industry in major farming communities south of Baghdad, by Luis Delgadillo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
