Lower Shabelle breadbasket farms become a hunger belt for local families

(ERGO) – Farhiya Abdullahi Abdi, a farmer in southern Somalia’s agricultural breadbasket, Lower Shabelle region, has lost all the crops she expected to harvest recently due to water shortage, leaving her family in crisis.

With a household of 13, Farhiya said all the vegetables and other crops she expected to harvest on her farm near Afgoye in early August were wiped out. She had spent heavily on seeds, irrigation and farm preparation in Marerey village. But now, she is unable to plant again as the water shortage continues and she is financially broke.

“The biggest challenge is the water shortage, which has destroyed all our crops,” she said. “The river has run dry and there are no wells here. We planted the crops in May, but they have not been ready for harvest as expected.”

Scores of farmers in Marerey, Jambalul and Shukurow villages, northeast of Afgoye, are facing similar hardship after their crops failed due to lack of river water.