Iowa National Guard project irrigates a thousand acres in Afghanistan

By Air Force Capt. Peter Shinn
734th Agribusiness Development Team

Air Force Staff Sgt. Bennett Groth of Moville, Iowa, production agriculture specialist for the Iowa National Guard's 734th Agribusiness Development Team, and Army Master Sgt. Steve Holding of Janesville, Iowa, the ADT's pay agent, review payment paperwork Dec. 6 with Noor Rahimi who supervised a cash-for-work project that cleaned out several kilometers of an irrigation canal in the Sarkani District over a two-week period in November. The project will enable the irrigation of 2,000 jeribs (about a thousand acres) of farmland in the Sarkani District at a cost of just more than 155,000 Afghani (approximately $3,100). (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Peter Shinn)
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KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (12-13-10) – A modest cash-for-work project, underwritten by the Iowa National Guard's 734th Agribusiness Development Team, to clean out a clogged canal in the Sarkani District of Afghanistan's Kunar Province will allow irrigation of a thousand acres of land and benefit six district villages.

The project, which cost just more than155,000 Afghani (approximately $3,100), employed 25 Afghan men, plus two supervisors for two weeks.

Each worker earned 5,000 Afghani for his labor (just more than $100).

Noor Rahimi supervised the project for the ADT. He deemed it an unqualified success.

"This project was very, very good," Rahimi said. "Now that the canal is cleared, we can irrigate 2,000 jeribs (about a thousand acres), and we had good work for the people.

"The farmers are very happy, the workers are very happy and I'm very happy."

In the past, Rahimi explained, Afghan communities would gather together and clean their own canals.

However, since anti-Afghan forces offered money to young men to take up arms against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, it had become more difficult to get workers to clean canals for free.

Cash-for-work programs like the one the ADT underwrote, Rahimi added, made it less likely workers would join insurgents for money.

Just as significantly, according to Rahimi, the farmland irrigated as a result of the project would be much more productive, boosting income for farmers in the district.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Bennett Groth of Moville, Iowa, the ADT's assistant project leader for the Sarkani leader, provided quality control and quality assurance for the canal-cleaning effort.

Groth was also on hand when the ADT made final payment for the project, and he expressed surprise at the project's far-reaching effects.

"I knew it would help them irrigate some of their land, but I didn't really expect, like Noor said, that it could reduce the number of insurgents or anything like that," Groth said. "That's a lot of bang for the buck."

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