(ERGO) – Severe soil erosion in Balley Valley, on the outskirts of Garowe town in Somalia’s Puntland region, is threatening the livelihoods of livestock farmers as their herds of livestock lack pasture and water.
The farmers are blaming unregulated quarrying for rocks in the area.
Ahmedweli Hirsi Gelle has seen the number of his goats dwindle to just 160. He said the land used to be bountiful with water and pasture but is now barren.
He now has to trek far away in search of pasture and water for the herd.
According to Gelli, topsoil and trees were washed away by the rains of the last Gu’ season, which forced him to move with his livestock to Gumays village 150 km away from the valley.
“The grazing land with beautiful landscapes is being destroyed at an alarming rate by the careless scraping of the rich top rich soil to pave way for quarrying,’” said Gelli.
“During the rainy season, water creates runoff in the valley and washes away the top layer soil. By the time the rainy season is over, the valley will be bare and there will be no water and pasture left,” he said.
Another pastoralist, Mohamud Yussuf Karshe, living in Jantela village, accused the quarry workers of causing massive degradation on land belonging to the community.
“I have 30 camels and 20 cattle. Because of this problem, I have had to move the livestock to an area far from my village in (Togdheer region) in search of pasture,” Karshe said.
Garowe deputy mayor, Mohamed Ali Mohamed, confirmed the concerns of the pastoralists saying the issue had been raised several times.
“As the local administration, we built gabions using sand and rock to fill the gullies in several valleys including Un, Hamur, and Ilma-ader. We used wire mesh to keep the stones but beyond that, we do not have the capacity,” he said,
Saed Shidad, an environmentalist, blames the locals and the pastoralists for not acting to preserve the environment.
“The protection of the environment is everybody’s responsibility. We have to come up with a solution and educate people on the importance of the environment and the problems of soil erosion,” Saed stated.
