The price of locally produced rice in Jowhar has doubled due to a fall in production of the crop over the past two years.
Farah Aley sells local food products in Jowhar market. He told Radio Ergo’s local reporter a 50 kg sack of local rice had risen from 350,000 to 720,000 Somali shillings.
He said the product was completely running out of the market. “There are less than 10 sacks of this type of rice in Jowhar food markets,” he said.
Radio Ergo’s reporter said farmers had been hit hard in the past two harvest seasons by floods and a shortage of seeds for planting.
Hajji Ambe, a farmer, said his four hectares of rice were recently washed away by river floods.
“You see that I am now idling around the market, because my farm was destroyed by floods. Unfortunately, I have not been lucky enough to harvest my farm for four consecutive seasons,” he said.
Fatuma Ali Hassan used to sell local rice for a good profit from the product. But she was no longer in the business.
“I recently stopped selling the locally produced rice, because nobody was going to buy it at more than 700,000 Somali shillings. Locals are now opting for the imported rice, which is cheaper,” she said.
Hajji Ambe cited lack of fertilizers, poor irrigation systems and floods as the main challenges leading to the low production levels.
Jowhar is one of few areas in Somalia where such type of rice is planted.
The former central government of Somalia with support from the Chinese government launched the ‘Plant Rice’ project in Berey village near Jowhar during the 1980s.
Locals in the area continued to plant the product after the collapse of the government in 1990.
