Page 352 - UAE Truncal States

The External Influences

communications and marketing facilities had to be prepared and the
people had to grow accustomed to consuming vegetables. By 1970 the
trial station comprised permanent offices, a veterinary clinic, the
agricultural school, a mechanical workshop, stores and stables. The
station had gardens at Diqdaqah, the main experimental centre (60
acres), Falaj al Mu'alla (5 acres) and Kalba (7 acres). At all three
gardens farmers were encouraged to discuss their own extension
projects, to buy at cost price seedlings, seeds, fertilisers, and
insecticides, and to hire agricultural machines. Demand was such
that by 1970 one field assistant with a staff of six village agents were
insufficient to give advice to the growing number of farmers, and the
demand for the hire of tractors could hardly be met by the available
plant.
The trial station also experimented with raising various imported
breeds of animals. A herd of 28 cows and two Friesian bulls were
brought in by air in 1969, and by the end of 1970 the herd had grown
to 51. It became clear that during the hot season special bedding and
cooling had to be provided for such imported animals if they were to
survive, and therefore they were not suitable for a family keeping
only one or two cows; but it was found that it could be commercially
viable to keep large herds of them if fodder could be grown cheaply.
A herd of Damascus goats and various poultry were also reared at
Diqdaqah for sale to farmers.
In September 1967 a qualified veterinary officer was employed by
the Development Office. In 1970 his territory was divided into a north
section comprising Ra’s al Khaimah and the east coast with a
veterinary surgeon based at Diqdaqah, and the remaining southern
section with a surgeon based at Sharjah. Over 600 head of stock were
treated monthly by the specialists and their assistants, meat
I inspection was carried out on alternate days in Ra's al Khaimah and
other towns. This veterinary service was still only a modest
beginning, for example it had no laboratory. Also because the roads
were only dirt tracks and through the mountains they were
particularly difficult to negotiate, a lot of time had to be spent on
travel, and the east coast, not easy of access, was less well served
than the rest of the area. The Development Office started to formulate
regulations to prevent the introduction of animal diseases, but this
task was eventually undertaken some years later by the federal
government.
In 1968 the Milaihah agricultural scheme was created near Jabal

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