Capt. Bobby Lumsden, of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., (left) and 1st Lt. Joel Pierce (right), of Thomasville, N.C., advise Rafea Abass Ali (center) about the placement of steel beams supporting a rooftop cooling tower on the poultry processing plant Ali owns near Mahmudiyah, Oct. 31. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles

U.S. Soldiers lent their agriculture and engineering expertise, Oct. 31, to help bring a chicken processing plant into operation; one that will provide food and jobs.

North Carolina Guardsmen with 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, who have agribusiness and engineering backgrounds, visited the al-Kien plant near Mahmudiyah to offer advice and seek ways to help the plant begin operations.

Capt. Bobby Lumsden, the battalion’s operations officer, walked through the plant with owner Rafea Abass Ali to inspect the plant’s machinery and the massive coolers that will help keep poultry fresh. Getting the plant up and running will not only create a market for fresh chicken in the area, but will also give farmers a place to sell their chickens.

“This will be the only factory in the area with fresh frozen chicken,” said Lumsden, a native of Fuquay-Varina, N.C. “Iraqis want very fresh chicken, but their choices right now are canned chicken or chicken that is imported.”

The plant has the capacity to process 10,000 chickens a month and can employ up to 150 workers. Lumsden said the plant could boost the local economy and attract other investors to the area.

“It will open up this area for more agribusiness and, as we have studied, agribusiness brings more industry and factories,” said Lumsden. “It will be the first step in the process to bring economic improvement to this whole area.”

As Lumsden checked out the plant, he had help from two subject matter experts in engineering and agriculture.

1st Lt. Joel Pierce is an engineering officer who owns a contracting company back home in Thomasville, N.C., and 2nd Lt. James Bowden, of Siler City, N.C., grew up on a large industrialized poultry farm.

What the officers discovered was that the only chicken hatchery in the area does not produce enough hens to meet the demand of hundreds of farmers in the area. They also discovered some improperly installed steel beams that are bending under the weight of cooling towers on the roof of the plant.

“There were issues about the structure supporting the cooling tower,” said Lumsden. “They can operate right now, but they need to fix the I-beams and the ice machine.”

Lumsden said the American Soldiers will continue to work with the Iraqis to help get the plant up and running. He said he hopes to see the plant processing chickens by the time the 30th HBCT redeploys in a few months.

“Time and time again, an economy has a proven to be the ultimate stabilizer in any country,” said Lumsden. “This will be a great increase to the economy in the area by providing jobs and having an outlet for the farmers’ products.”

The al-Kien plant has come a long way and is close to beginning operations. The expertise offered by the National Guard Soldiers will help sow the seeds of peace and stability by increasing food choices and bringing jobs to Mahmudiyah.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Jon Soles

Continuing my coverage of the rebuilding of the Iraqi chicken industry…

Before the war, numerous areas in Iraq thrived off the chicken industry. Hawr Rajab, Arab Jabour and Adwaniyah all had prosperous chicken markets.

“Historically, this was the largest chicken-producing area in Iraq,” said Capt. Michael Lenart, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-3 Brigade Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

Insurgent violence ravaged the industry. Chicken coops and pens were used by insurgents as safe houses and weapons cache dumps. Electrical equipment such as cables, generators and water pumps were stolen or neglected after al-Qaida threatened employees to quit coming to work.

With security gains removing al-Qaida from the area, the effort is to boost chicken farming back to pre-war levels.

“Right now it is in its first phase,” said Baghdad-7 embedded provincial reconstruction team economics team chief, Capt. Shawn Carbone, of the restoration plans. He added the ePRT has established relationships, helped develop business plans and submitted applications for funding.

Funding will come from Commander’s Emergency Relief Program and U.S. Department of State funds, Carbone said, as well as contributions from former owners.

The Adwaniyah Farmers Union Chairman, Falih Sha’lan Jassim, used funds from the union to purchase 10,000 chicks to jumpstart the Adwaniyah chicken factories. In Arab Jabour, the owner of the Al Mazra’a Kupa and Chicken processing facility, Ghassan Mohammed Ali, has pledged more than $300,000 towards restoring his factory.

Ali’s factory, first constructed in 1982, can employ up to 95 people at full capacity. Larger factories such as the Al Raad Poultry slaughterhouse in Hawr Rajab, which includes six chicken coops, a feed-producing factory, and a processing plant that slaughters, cleans, packages and stores chickens, can employ up to 500 people, Carbone added.

Production will create new markets and opportunities. Transportation companies will be needed to move products to market and mechanics will be needed to maintain the machinery used for processing, said Carbone, a native of Niagara Falls, N.Y. The main market for chickens is currently Baghdad.

Baghdad chicken breeders will also benefit, said Lenart. Currently chickens and supplies needed to renovate buildings are purchased in Baghdad.

Structurally the buildings are stable; all that’s needed to start production is repairing machinery and cleaning out the buildings, said Lenart, a native of Richmond Hill, Ga.

Getting production started will help bring the Government of Iraq into the equation as well. Because the industries are privately owned, the GoI has not been largely involved. Government support has been largely limited to the Ministry of Agriculture providing vaccines to local veterinarians, Lenart said.

Once the businesses are up and running though, their involvement in newly-created business associations will give them government-related business incentives, loans and grants, Carbone said. Like the area farmers unions, which are recognized by the MoA, the chicken factories are currently forming their own subcommittees and will receive government aid.

Business owners are also taking classes from an Iraqi-run business development center in Hilla to help their companies prosper once they begin production.

The success of the industry is vital to not only the local communities, but to all of Iraq. A stable economy ties in with and supports security gains.

“Self-sustainment keeps out the influence of insurgents,” Carbone said. “Only when there is no alternative do people turn to violence.”

The projects will continue, with 5,000 more chickens set to be delivered in Adwaniyah on April 22. In the future, chickens will come from within the area from a hatchery under construction.

DVIDS
By Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division