FOUNDING OF BARDERA DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE
Bardera District Agricultural Institute is another center aimed at developing the economy of the region and furthering the skills of the community's agricultural service providers. Agriculture is the single largest economic sector in Baardheere District Region. There are farming communities dotted on the banks of the entire length of the Jubba River from Doolow, most northern district in Gedo Region, to Goobweyn near Kismaayo, where the Jubba River empties into the Indian Ocean. Starting from Baardheere, the Jubba Valley becomes green flat land suitable for farming and livestock grazing.
Gedo agriculutral production played important role in the Somali National Farm Output. Baardheere is situated on the Jubba River and is the seat of Baardheere District, the largest district of Gedo Region. During the 1980s, the Ministry of Agriculture had great presence in southern Gedo, particularly in crop farming regions such as Baardheere and Luuq districts. Somalia's other major farming areas include Kismaayo, Jamaame, Faanoole, Qoryooleey, Afgooye, and Jowhar. All these communities used to recieve major assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture during the development years between 1970s to 80s.
The Baardheere Agricultural Institute is part of the college system and its focus is developing the economic sectors of the district and region which was neglected for close to two decades. To show the strength of the farming sector in Bardera, 96.2% of Bardera households are able to buy their food stuff. This indicates little technical help will yield even greater results of economic empowerment for the larger community. People's income is gained from casual labour including farming, construction and storekeeping.
The Dean (Hormuud) of Bardera Polytechnic College, Mohamed Abdullahi Barre, is also the head of this department until suitable person is found. Since the founding of Bardera Polytechnic College, Mohamed created environment for local NGOs and other funding agencies to collaborate on all public works projects whether in education, health or agriculture.
About 80 students are to be registered for the institute's yearly student intake. The institute will help farming associations and individual farmers to find better farming techniques, food processing and storage methods. Controlling food disease infestation problems are currently being addressed.
Workforce trained in agriculutral science is very important to Somalia. Current situation put an stop to all modern farming techniques in Somalia since the start of the Somali civil war in 1991. Previously, the centeral government of Somali has made a lot of effort to develop the Somali Agricultural Sector.
FAMOUS BAARDHEERE ONION REACHES FROM DIJABOUTI CITY TO MOMBASA
Bardera farmers produce one of Somalia's most famous onions. In the past, Bardera onion was sold at fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in Mogadishu. There was one market in Mogadishu which was dedicated to selling only onion from Baardheere Region farms. This famous Baardheere onion used to reach as far north to Djibouti on the Red Sea and down south as far as Mombasa, Kenya, on the Indian Ocean.
Other famous Baardheere farm products include coconut, bananas, mangoe, papaya and tobacco. The palm tree which produces coconut fruits, the palm fruit type, is actually where Baar-dheere got its name from. In Af Soomaali Baardheere means Baar (palm), dheere (tall). In other words, the name Baardheere means Tall Palm.
UNSAFE FOOD IMPORTS TO SOMALIA
Since the early 1990s, food importers throughout Somalia have been importing unsave processed foods from such places like Egypt, Syria and other parts from the Middleast. For example, various types of expired foods but with new packaging, dry power drinks and other unsafe food from Egypt, are sold across Somalia.
If given little effort by those same importerts, fruit harvest from Jubba region areas alone can be used to manufacture better quality drinks with mangoe, orange, papaya and plethora of other flavouvers.
ENCOURAGING CO-OPERATIVES, FOOD PROCESSING AND STORAGE FACILITIES
Bardera District farmers have been going and growing without technical support from any government for the longest time. And now, the Baardheere Polytechnic College system is formulating joint collaborations between farming associations and the Bardera Polytechnic's Agricultural Science Department. Any new strategies will focus in the field of Agricultural Science in general, as well as crop production, processing, marketing, storage and seed banking.
Finding ways to help setup small scale food processing facilities and getting safe food storage systems are paramount to the school's development policies. Improving current farming output and food storage can strenghten food security in this part of Gedo region.
To gauge economical gain figures from farming, 100KGs of beans from Baardheere farms fetch $100 US Dollars in near by Wajir town, inside Kenya. Same weight of imported rice, a popular staple diet in Somalia, costs about $8 less per 100KGs. Harvesting and storing safely such products as beans and other locally grown products, can generate good income for farmers from Baardheere and other farmers in region region.
Community leaders, educators and business people are encouraged to initiate co-operative centers and private food processing factories, which can store and process locally grown foods for local consumption and for exporting to neighboring regions and countries.
For more than a decade, SADO, a non-profit organization operating in Baardheere area, has been the sole provider of many of the services farmers in Baardheere and surrounding areas depend on. Seed banking, procurement of farming tools and water pumping motors used for irrigation, were some of the assistance SADO gave to farmers in southern Gedo and beyond.
CROP YIELD AND DIVERTION TO SINGLE CROP TYPE FARMING
Baardheere and Buurdhuubo farms on the Jubba River banks have the greatest annual crop yield. For the past few years, many of the Lugh or Luuq area grain and various types of fruit producing farms have been coverted to produce a single crop type, lemon. Green lemon earns great deal of cash for those who farm the product. Almost all the lemon grown in Somalia is exported to the Middleast. Purposes other than food is used when the dry fruit reaches there.
Starting from 1950s, Somali farming exports to Europe and elsewhere earned the country millions of dollars per year. National angecies and intenational investment pushed agricultural production to higher levels from 1970s to late 1980s. In many farming communities, farming associations were established with the help of Somali National University (Jaamacada Ummada Soomaaliyeed). Similary, storage and processing facilities were also built across major farming towns near the Jubba and Shabeelle Rivers.
Today, most farmers in Somalai are not farming staple diet foods anymore. Farmers across Somalia have diverted their grain farming lands to a single crop, lemon. This practise is worrying a lot of people in the country. Great potential earnings for farmers is what pushing this crop. Middlemen make even greater profits compared to farmers who produce the crop which is desired for exports.
The Bardera District Agricultural Institute focuses on generating awareness for the environmental degradation in Somalia as well as the need to practise crop diversification. On the general environmental front, approaching on two decades now, the Middleast still has insatiable appetite for charcoal from burnt trees in Somalia. This act has made already semi desert country even more desert. Twenty years of unregulated burning down the few forest areas left in southern Somalia is unabated. Kismayo and all around the Jubba Valley area region is suffering the greatest.
Besides Bardera Polytechnic, two other educational institutions, the University of Kismayo and the University of Gedo have initiated some public educating for the safeguarding of the environment and practising good business ethics.
Corn/maize farming field research by Professor Abdullahi Barre
Jubba water sample storage for filtration research near Baardheere bridge over Jubba R.
