We are in a famous farming area, and it’s midday east Africa time. You don't feel the weather because all you can see is greenery and fields.
There are many gardens here where different kinds of vegetables are grown. But our story focuses on a very small piece of land, approximately 20 by 15 square metres, which is planted by female farmers who live in the capital of Mogadishu - about 35 kilometres from here.
Image: the agricultural area under the Afgooye district in the Lower Shabelle region.
To get here, we traveled for almost two hours. It is an agricultural area under the Afgooye district in the Lower Shabelle region.
The female farmers working in the area have established organisation that unites around one hundred young women interested in farming - called the Somali Agricultural Girls Association (SAGA). All of the farmers they studied agriculture and production.
After competition, training, and working independently for a long time, they have now found their own farmland. Here they grow special varieties of vegetables, fruits and other crops that they sell to the markets of Mogadishu.
"As an organisation, we do a lot of work such as raising awareness, advising and doing our own work and production," said Hani Hussein Warsame, the General Secretary of SAGA.
"Many of our people do not know the science of planting, so are often unaware of the mistakes they can make when they plant. For example, we tell them to reduce the use of these pesticides, which are often dangerous to life and the one they plant," says Hani.
"We advise how they can use enough water because there is a time there is a lot of water and it can harm the fields and a time the water is very little. So we tell them the best way and the best thing they can plant, and we really succeeded."
Image: Young female farmers at work.
According to Hani, the interest and desire of these girls to continue this work has caused them to forget about the challenges of the work such as educating, awareness and advice that they have on a regular basis.
"When you are an educated girl who wants to help her people and her country, you face many challenges because our society is not ready to support and encourage girls," she says.
The girls said they are looking for special support, in particular from the Ministry of Agriculture and international organisations that work in agriculture and production to promote their work and introduce new things.
"We have been working hard for a while and we have seen our potential as far as we can. We would like to ask the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Somalia and the international organisations that work in agriculture to support us in this work, because we want to get more space, develop and produce something of quality and go with the world," Aniso Abdinasir said.