Long before the arrival of the Americans in Somalia, farmland near Baidoa was the location for an agricultural rehabilitation programme.
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| Crossing the Shebelle with agricultural extension workers |
Unlike the
surrounding desert Baidoa was green and verdant with abundant coconut and
banana plantations. You could still see the concrete huts in which the former
Italian colonists kept their plantation workers. During the rainy season stagnant pools
between the houses were ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes – dengue and
malaria were rife.
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| seed trials |
Much of the
work was restoration of irrigation channels and the perennial problem of raising
water from the Shebelle River. The pumps long since looted.
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| Where there was once a pump to raise water from the Shabelle |
That we managed to bring large swathes of agricultural land back into productive use was down to the determination and bravery of three exceptional extension workers.
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Three brave men.
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| and their appreciative audience |
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