We are in a famous farming area, it’s a mid-day of east Africa time, and you don’t feel the weather because all you can see is green and fields. There are many gardens here, where different kinds of vegetables are grown. But our story goes on a very small piece of land, approximately 20 by 15 meters square, which is planted by female farmers who live in the capital of Mogadishu, which is about 35 kilometers from here.
Image of the farm owned by SAGA.
To get here we traveled for almost 2 hours, we took the girls with us from an educational centre in the capital where they work. This area is an agricultural area under the Afgooye district in the Lower Shabelle region.
These girls we talk about decided to establish an organization that unites around one hundred young women – called the Somali Agricultural Girls Association (SAGA) – established on June 15, 2014. All of them they studied agriculture and production.
Since they formed this organization, they have concentrated on changing the truth about something they have learned: which is the cultivation of effort that is safe from everything that can cause problems for that seed.
After competition, training, and working independently for a long time, now they have found their own farm land, here they grow special varieties of vegetables, fruits and other crops that they sell to the markets of Mogadishu.
“As an organization, 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 we are often not aware 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. 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” said Hani again.
Members of SAGA.
“There is no help from us as an organization, but there are competitions that we participate in if we win we get a chance to increase our knowledge in agriculture as well as materials and other things that we receive as rewards but no other Agency or group that we depend on” said Aniso Abdinasir, a member of the Farmers’ Girls Association.
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. In addition, when we compete or apply for something, we do not receive consideration in some areas, and there is no special support from anyone. Sometimes we do not get a good market for the vegetables we produce” Hani Warsame said.
The girls said they are looking for special support, in particular from the Ministry of Agriculture and international organizations 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 organizations 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.