Could the Wound Heal in Abu Ghraib?
Abu Ghraib, an agro based region in the outskirts of Baghdad came into world pre-eminence for all the wrong reasons of human rights abuse. Today, in an attempt to correct the aftermath, development agencies are trying hard to rebuild the economic base and restore the confidence of the people.
Felt to be in the overall right direction, the success rate of the efforts will however largely depend on the consultative role played by the relevant state institutes / units and the commitment of the local farming community to implement.
Correcting the aftermath: Abu Ghraib is today known to the world for all wrong reasons – human rights violation and torture by the US Army. The Economic Provincial Reconstruction Team, known as e PRT, funded by US Government, is trying to put certain right things for the development of Abu Ghraib to abate the effect of wrong doings of the past. This is an agro based region in the outskirts of Baghdad and agriculture activity has been destroyed by the years of sanction, followed by ethnic strife after US invasion. Once this country used to export agro products to the neighboring countries, now imports over 80% of its total food requirements. Looting of seed production research facilities and gene bank coupled with exodus of trained professionals has made things worse.
The College of Agriculture of Baghdad University, located in Abu Ghraib, produces trained agriculture graduates but rarely provides any service to the farmers’ community in the region, though it has qualified professors to render effective services to the community. USAID supported e PRT and other projects came up with an idea of developing an Agriculture Business Development Center (ABDC), in the College of Agriculture in Abu Ghraib, to provide large array of technical and business information to local farmers. The board of ABDC is being comprised of representatives of livestock farmers, vegetable growers and professors of College of Agriculture.
Need for united efforts: Livestock farmers in the locality often can not make two ends meet because of poor milk yield of 6/7 litres/cow as opposed to Saudi average of 40 litres/cow. Professors in the Agriculture College can advice livestock farmers on artificial insemination techniques, right feed/fodder and prevention of deceases, which can increase production to 15 – 17 litres/cow, according to an Iraqi livestock expert.
Livestock farmers taking stock
Similarly, some professors can help vegetable growers and other farmers to achieve economies of scale. Professional advice will help farmers to move up the value chain and people in the locality will start producing processed agro products like pickles, jams etc to earn their livelihood. ABDC also plans to generate employment in the locality by organizing training programs in bee keeping, pickle making and Jam making. E PRT has further planned to bring an existing Micro Finance Institution, already supported by another USAID project, to support existing farmers and potential entrepreneurs in Abu Ghraib.
Rays of hope: PRT indeed has selected right kind of institution to roll out such development programs in the locality and has identified right kind of interventions for the economic growth of the region. It deserves due credit for this but now the challenge is to roll out this program effectively by taking the farming community of the area into confidence in this vulnerable region. Even if it achieves 60% success – the complexion of Abu Ghraib will change for ever and the wound may heal to a great extent. 
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