(ERGO) – More than 300 farming families in Alula in Puntland’s Bari region are facing severe hardship after lack of water and crop disease ruined their harvest, leaving them with a cruel legacy of mounting debts.
Asho Mohamud Ahmed, a farmer, said her family of nine can no longer meet their most basic needs after losing all the crops she planted in November for anticipated harvest in February.
“The challenges we face are that all our crops have dried up. My farm is completely destroyed,” she said.
“I planted lemons, tomatoes, dates, sesame, papaya, peppers – every kind of vegetable. Disease struck them, and there was no water. If they had survived, I would be harvesting now. There is nothing left for me.”
For 11 years, Asho irrigated her two-hectare farm using water from Afkalahaye spring, about eight kilometres west of Alula. But for the first time in decades, the water source dried up.
Levels of water in the only well in the area have dropped sharply. Commercial water trucks are transporting water to the area from Bareda, 37 kilometres away, at a cost of $200 per delivery – far beyond the reach of most families.
Asho has resorted to selling tea at night, earning at most $1.50 a day. Some days she earns nothing. The small income cannot provide a full meal for her family, and local shopkeepers have refused to extend further credit due to her current debts.
Her husband, who worked alongside her on the farm, has been unemployed for months. He searches daily for manual labour in Alula town but has found no steady work.
Some nights, Asho said, her children go to bed hungry and wake later unable to sleep because of hunger.
“Life here is extremely hard. We cannot get three meals a day. Our source of income has disappeared. We have no livestock, no other job, and nowhere else to turn,” she told Radio Ergo.
Asho is burdened with nearly $4,000 in debt. The amount includes money borrowed for seeds, ploughing, fuel, farm inputs, hired labour, food, and water for the household. Creditors regularly demand repayment, but she has no means to pay.
Five of her children, who were attending grades one to seven as well as Koranic classes, were sent home earlier this month after she failed to pay $120 in accumulated school fees since December.
“The fact that they stopped going to school hurts me deeply,” she said.
Ahmad Abdi Jama, another farmer in the area, is facing similar struggles. His family of 11 has found it increasingly difficult over the past three months to secure food, water, and other essentials.
He inherited a three-hectare farm from his father, but two consecutive poor seasons wiped out its productivity. Since July last year, he has lost two date harvests due to drought and crop disease.
“I planted many date palms, but they failed. There are diseases and no water. The trees cannot even produce fruit. Irrigated farming is no longer possible because we cannot access water or afford to run wells,” he stated.
Water now costs more than $10 per barrel, which he cannot afford. As a result, he has abandoned farming altogether, after a lifetime working the land.
Ahmad survives seeking credit from local shops and doing occasional manual labour in Alula, earning between 50 cents and one dollar on days he finds work. The income is not enough to sustain his large family.
“Our livelihoods are gone, prices are high, and there are no jobs,” he said. “Every morning a family needs food to cook, but I have no money. When I ask for more credit, they tell me I still owe them from before.”
He is burdened by more than $3,000 in debts, some dating back two years. Creditors continue to press for repayment despite his worsening situation.
Seven of his children were expelled from school and Koranic classes in January after he failed to pay $20 per child for two months.
“This uncertainty and helplessness weigh heavily on my family,” he said. “I have no solution.”
Local officials confirm the scale of the crisis. Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed, head of the agriculture office in Alula district, said drought, water shortages, debt, and lack of income have left farmers in despair.
He said the situation has been reported to the Puntland government and aid agencies, but no response has been received.
“There has been severe drought and harsh dry seasons,” he said. “Water sources have depleted significantly, production has dropped, and many farmers – nearly two-thirds – have abandoned their farms because they cannot cope. No family here eats three meals a day. The best situation is one meal.”
He added that food shortages are compounded by the pressure of unpaid debts, which many farmers describe as even more distressing than hunger itself.
