(ERGO) – Mohamed Abdi Barre lost his entire vegetable harvest in the floods that struck his area in May and he does not know how he is going to pay back the money he borrowed as investment.
Mohamed, 39, is a cash crop farmer at Shinile village, 13 km outside Beletweyne. His two and a half hectares of carefully nurtured watermelon, bell peppers and onions were all destroyed by flood water just three weeks before he was due to harvest.
The farm is still inundated with River Shabelle flood water.
“The farm is the only source of living for my seven member family and I am now forced to rely on my relatives to support us because everything we had expected was destroyed by the floods,’’ said Mohamed.
There are many farmers in a similar situation in the area, although Mohamed may have invested more than most.
Throughout the driest period, when the river water levels reached their lowest in March, he bought a total of 40 tanker loads of water from local traders costing $2,000 to keep his crops well irrigated.
With all the seeds and inputs, water, hired labour and other costs, Mohamed estimates spending a total of $6,000. He borrowed most of this from other people, planning to repay it after the harvest that never came.
“Even when my farm dries out, people will not lend me any more money before I have repaid my previous debts, so because of this it is going to be very hard for me to buy any inputs to plant the farm again,’’ he said.
Radio Ergo’s reporter in Beletweyne said there is shortage of vegetables in the town. Many vegetable farms located along the river were destroyed by the floods in May and June.
