Floods resulting from heavy rains in Burhakaba district have washed away many of the underground food storages called ‘bakaar’ used in Bay region, leaving many farming families destitute.
Burhakaba district commissioner Ali Hassan Abdi told Radio Ergo that 730 families in 11 low-lying villages to the east had lost all their stored food.
He named Baari, Aal-Bashir, Dhaway, Bulo-ba’ad, Anbuul, Aw-birka, Aliyow among others areas. Some houses were also destroyed in the floods but the local administration has not yet confirmed the numbers.
Abdullahi Ali Mohamed, 64, suffered big losses in Baari, where he lives with his family of nine children. “The floods washed away both my two underground food storages in which I had 510 sacks of sorghum from the last five harvest. I salvaged nothing,” he told Radio Ergo.
Farmers often store their grain for years to use when it is needed. Abdullahi had been planning to sell his reserves when the next drought came.
Halima Maalim Nuur, a 32-year-old mother of five, said the floods were frightening and put everyone in danger. She lost 120 sacks of sorghum from her reserve.
The district commissioner said that affected families were now facing food shortages and needed food aid. He sent an appeal to the federal government, the southwest regional administration and aid agencies to help.
