Somalia can feed itself with a little bit of investment.

[Voltage]

These are some examples being collected from one of the fertile regions in the food producing southern regions of Somalia which see one of the two major rivers. The Gedo Region, the only southern region free from Al Shabaab, is a leader in the making in this respect of self-sufficiency where local farmers are working hard to partner with international funders to produce food for the country.

Exhibit #1: Transformation of a village near B/xaawo, Gedo

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Exhibit #2: 250 Farming Projects In Gedo Associated Press Video

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Exhibit #3: Farm scenes from Faanweyn village in Gedo- PICS

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Exhibit #4: Bardeere District Agriculture Institute

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Exhibit #5: Jubbaland Mashallah

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[XimanJaale]

Some farms in Doolow

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Dawwa riverine in Beled-Xaawo

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[grandpakhalif]

Beautiful pictures from Gedo Somalia

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[qoraxeey]

Voltage

mashallah good topic .. God bless the Somalia

we should send money to local farmers in jubbland / gedo

[union]

Incredible! I've never been to Somalia and I didn't realize that the country is so fertile and has so much agricultural potential. I had always thought it needed outside aid to keep the population from starving. It looks like the locals have proven me wrong, and I am impressed by the initiative they are taking in making their communities more self sufficient, and I only wish there were more resources available to them to make their goals reality.

[Voltage]

I am simply amazed and heartened to find the discovery of such capabilities in Somalia. My surprise and excitement is not only attributable to the reality of am being a young Somali-American who is happy to find different possibilities existing for the disadvantaged people in his country of origin, but I think even from a general perspective considering the nature of food insecurity in Somalia (famine this past summer!) it is heartwarming to see a different path exists. Why must Somalis starve to death, to witness the death and destruction of a generation of young, old, and needy people when with just a little bit of investment we can help chart a different path for one of the, if not the most disadvantaged societies on earth?

Looking at these pictures and information, I see endless possibilities. Somalia has a relatively small population (9 million), an endless seacoast, two major rivers, and immense water source both underground as well as surface water. Somalia's water resources using the CIA factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publication ... /2147.html) leads to these comparisons:

--2X the surface water of Egypt and Egypt feeds 80 million people
--2X the surface water of France and UK combined
--Same amount of surface water as Turkey with the Tigris and Euphrates

Somalia's resources are there and its potential for at least feeding itself certainly exists. There were only two things that prevented farming and those were the nomadic Somali culture and investment. The culture has certainly changed. I was very pleased to read in the UNDP report how Somalis are now embracing agro-pastoralism and areas not farmed are now being farmed for the first time (Exhibit #1). With a little bit of investment, the possibilities of Somalia and food security is immense and the one of the world's most disadvantaged societies can easily be turned into one that doesn't starve to death periodically.

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

Lol according to that Mali has 10 times as much surface water as south korea.

[grandpakhalif]

I am extremely impressed after seeing the amount of potential food+surplus Somalia, especially the Gedo region can produce. I always inquired about the magnitude of last year's famine and why it wasn't prevented. The extremity of its consequences has lead me to believe that Somalia is naturally resource-starved. Obviously with the recent undp report and other tidbits of information I now know that Somalia has the potential to feed not only its self but the entire East Africa. With little capital, small businesses can generate tons of food not only generating jobs but providing the incentive for peace.

[Voltage]

I think something we can glean from that CIA resources page is, it matters immensely how you effectively use the resources you have. It is amazing to know the extent of Somalia's capacity for self-feeding which has been prevented in the past for a number of reasons, but one of which is being revolutionized today:

The dykes have caused retention richer minerals-laden soils, making the area suitable for growing a variety of crops, hence improvement in food security. Areas that have not been farmed for almost 20 years are now under cultivation...

...A large number of pastoralists are now leading sedentary settled lives. They are slowly turning into agro-pastoralists.

http://www.so.undp.org/index.php/Somali ... llage.html

The cultural capacity of self-feeding seems to be taking root. Imagine what a little bit of investment will do to help chart a new path for Somalia and its hungry people. Food insecurity can easily be conquered in Somalia and we already see some examples of that in the sources posted in this topic. Gedo Region is a leader in this example to the rest of Somalia and I wish it can attain more resources to increase livelihood improvement and food production.

[Adali]

the transformation is breath taking.

[Goljano Lion]

their Fufu brothers will teach Southern Somalis how to farm with the resource they have

[Alphanumeric]

I was always confident that Somalis could feed themselves, given simple investment and security. Unfortunately the latter is not so simple, and much more important.

[barakaboy10]

Somalia needs nothing more than people with working brains.

you don't have to have a lot of natural resources in order to become self-sufficient. many countries are self sufficient with little or no natural resources but all have something we don't---and that's people with working brains.

what sort of natural resources does japan has?

and until Somalis change their way of thinking, the quantity of the natural resources in the country will mean nothing and will sit there until people with working brains extract them.

[XaliimoFarax]

^^^True that human resource best resource one can have.

[Based]

Not only can we feed ourselves, but with the right amount of investment in both technical and human capital, the Jubba valley can potentially become a net food exporter. With the development of organizations such as the Baardheere District Agricultural Institute,the presence of a local administration committed to developing the agricultural industry, and the partnership of NGOs and the UNDP, the image of Somalia as a food aid dependent country perpetually plagued by drought and famine can finally be left in the past.

To be honest, this was a real eye opener for me. I was most impressed by the before and after pictures of the farms near Beled-Xaawo, and how a small scale irrigation scheme by the locals in cooperation with local NGOs totally transformed a community and made them completely self sufficient.

I commend the local community for its efforts