Provincial Reconstruction Teams Work Together
Forward Operating Base Kalsu- As the area around Sayifiyah has settled down and became safe, the need for planning for the future has become easier. A group of farmers prominent in the Farmers Union met with Coalition ePRT members to help plan agriculture issues for the region.
Sixteen important landowners in the Sayifiyah area met with Provincial Reconstruction Team military members at Whitehouse Patrol Base to help decide where the resources and money being spent for the Farmers Union should go.
Sayifiyah is a region that has been historically known for its agriculture operations. Some of the efforts in the area that are being looked at include such diverse things as beekeeping, poultry and cattle production. Efforts in effect right now include vegetable farms and chicken processing plants. All these different types of efforts were discussed at the meeting, which was the third meeting of the Agriculture union.
“Our goal is to restore the agriculture and farming community to the level that it was at one time,†said Mike Stevens. Mr. Stevens is an ePRT civilian agriculture advisor, and a member of the Provincial ePRT team. The meeting was also an opportunity to distribute seeds and materials to the gathered farmers. There are seeds enough for 350 different farmers that were given to eight of the farmers who are involved in vegetable farming. Among the seeds were green pepper, eggplant, cucumber, and tomato seeds brought in from Spain and Turkey, as well as seeds from other areas.
These seeds were given to the farmers to distribute to other farmers and share throughout the entire community. The meeting was an overall success, and there will be additional meetings in the coming months.
