FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — After nearly a year in Iraq as the last of the "surge brigades," the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, has seen the south Baghdad area transformed from insurgent stronghold to model of peace and security. The gains made in security may not hold, however, unless citizens of this area are able to successfully continue their way of life. In the 2nd BCT's area of operations, that mostly means agriculture.
Mike Stevens, a U.S. Department of Agriculture representative and agriculture adviser for the U.S. Dept. of State's Baghdad-7 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, put it simply: "If you feed the people, they can concentrate on their other needs, and thus it becomes a more peaceful area."
In the wake of combat operations that drove al-Qaida out of the area, 2nd BCT Soldiers began looking to the needs of citizens. Programs were started to repair infrastructure and revitalize local governments and businesses. One of the first such programs was aimed at farmers. Armed with vegetable seeds and plastic, Soldiers distributed the materials to farmers eager to plant new crops.
Stevens recalled that when he began his work with the ePRT in October, many parts of the area were still dangerous.
"At that time, we had only five percent of our area we could travel in and the rest was too kinetic to move into," Stevens recalled. "As we focused on seed distributions, it got farmers farming, rather than putting (improvised explosive devices) on the road. It was a kind of domino effect. Wherever we did these distributions we saw a decrease in IED activity and an increase in farming," he said.
Stevens credited 2nd BCT Soldiers with doing the hard work to get farms back on their feet. He relied on Soldiers patrolling the area to identify who the key figures in the area were and what they needed.
"They had everything to do with revitalization in the agricultural sector," Stevens said. "I can attend the farmer's union meetings, but I am not the guy out talking to the farmers ... They are the ones who identify all the crops being grown in the area. They are the ones who see that the seeds are getting distributed properly. They are the ones who are implementing the programs."
One reason for focusing on vegetable farming was that years of war had ravaged the once-vibrant farming sector, with decreased supply driving market prices up. Already a net importer of food products, Iraq relied on imports of produce to meet people's needs.
"It was horrible when I first got here," Stevens said. "Traveling through Amman, (Jordan) telling people what I do, they pleaded with me to do something about the food situation in Iraq, because prices had been through the roof," he said.
Reliance on produce imports had another negative aspect, Stevens said.
"We know arms get smuggled in with vegetables," he said. "The first concentrated effort was on vegetable production so we could slow down imports from other countries."
The Soldiers flooded the area with tomato, green pepper, eggplant and cucumber seeds. They also gave out plastic, used to make shelters which trap moisture in the warm, arid climate. The effort is already producing results.
"Just last week, I got a report from our agriculture office in Baghdad that tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and green peppers have all seen a 25 percent decrease in price," Stevens said.
Like other programs, Stevens described the seed distribution as a "kick start" to reinvigorate a once-thriving sector.
"(The farmers) were directed to save those input costs so they could continue to buy good seeds," Stevens said. "You've got good-minded farmers in business now who know how to make a profit, and I see it continuing on."
Seed distribution was only the beginning of the effort. Similar kick-start programs were begun with poultry and fish farming, both traditionally profitable forms of farming in the area. Using a combination of funds from the State Dept. and 2nd BCT's Commander's Emergency Response Program, fish farms and chicken coops were restocked.
So far, $75,000 of CERP funds have been spent on fish and poultry farms and more than $73,000 of State Department Quick Reaction Funds have been spent on poultry farms alone.
Other programs have been aimed at assisting farmers in other areas of farming: $20,000 in QRF for flooding orchards; $8,500 in QRF for purchasing beekeeping supplies; $50,000 to repair irrigation canals and pumps. More recently, $180,000 in CERP funds have been allocated to provide veterinary services for livestock.