Somalia: Desperate Hope for Green Revolution

Somalia is on the way from anarchy and chaos to green revolution through her agricultural technology

For almost two decades Somalia has great experience of war and violence and her economy was based on agriculture, Livestock and fishing before the civil war.

Somalia is one of the Semi-arid countries in east and horn of Africa and the most of her land is good for farming. There is also two distinct cropping system, rain-fed and irrigated are found in Somalia and the most important food crops are sorghum and maize.

Continentally, Africa hopes to join the green revolution although a few countries are not able to take part the widespread activity from the African lands and their leaders but the question is; how can Somalia move along with the green revolution while her violence is still going on?

The Nairobi based organization, Somali Agriculture Technical Group (SATG) recently held two workshops for harvesting the future: Technical and Institutional options for Agricultural Technology testing and transfer in Somalia at Hargeisa, Somaliland and Nairobi, Kenya.

SATG is a registered non-profit association of Somali professionals and friends of the country dedicated to assisting in the reconstruction of Somalia and its agricultural heritage. SATG was established to provide sustainable home-grown solutions to alleviate the rampant food shortages caused by conflict and the lack of agriculture and food policy.

The aim of the two workshops in Hargeisa from 23rd to 24th November, 2010 and 

Nairobi from 29th to 30th November, 2010 was to develop various technical and institutional options for the provision of agricultural support and applied research services for implementing agencies involved in agricultural interventions in Somaliland, Puntland and South central.

The first workshop, held in Hargeisa, (23-24 November 2010), focused on agriculture research and development interventions in Somaliland and Puntland. There were over 30 participants from universities, international organizations (FAO and IFAD), local and international NGOs, government ministries, and the private sector.

The Nairobi workshop included over 60 participants, mainly from local NGOs but also including international organizations (FAO, WFP, MDG and IFDC) and NGOs, Mogadishu University, and the private sector. The workshop participants examined the technology testing and transfer chain and highlighted the potential for various different organizations to play a role in the activities involved.

The Somali Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (SOMESHA) were taken part the overall events. Participants at both workshops noted the important role of CGIAR centers in providing technologies suitable for testing in Somalia, and endorsed the role of SATG in facilitating linkages to CGIAR centers.