By Bashir Abdifatah | BORESHA Project
People often struggle to survive in the drought-stricken area of Somalia’s Gedo region. The majority of the people from Gedo region of Southwest of Somalia rely on livestock to meet their basic food and health needs. Livestock and agriculture are the mainstay of livelihoods and food production in Gedo, which means that the region is particularly susceptible to environmental shocks. These shocks are usually the result of delayed rainfall, drought or flooding. Approximately half of the population sells livestock and their products in order to sustain their families.
Just as the people rely on livestock for their wellbeing, the animals are dependent on adequate rainfall to replenish water sources, and to grow grasses and other types of animal fodder. However, in recent years, rainfall in Somalia particularly Gedo has been inadequate, resulting in dried up water sources and decreased pasture and animal fodder, leaving the livestock with insufficient food and water. Without enough to go around, animals in Dollow grew thinner and began producing less milk. As a result, the value of the animals decreased, so the livestock owners received less income and often could not afford to pay for food and other necessities.
Insufficient food and water also caused the animals’ immune systems to fail, leading to an increase in livestock diseases. Compounding the situation, people in Dollow started moving animals to Ethiopia in search of food and water. However, lactating cows, small herd of goats and vulnerable household members (women, elderly and children) were left behind in the village.
Support
BORESHA project established six Livestock common interest groups in six villages under Dollow District (180HH comprising 100m & 80f) providing regular trainings on resilience building and protection of livelihoods and to serve as the center for dialogue for emerging human, livestock and environmental crisis. The LCIG group usually work together to enhance village potential resources and benefit for their communities.
As part of the BORESHA activities and response to Livelihoods concerns in Gedo Region, BORESHA engaged Agro-pastoralists in the area with a fodder production activity through Cash for work. The project also distributed seeds and provided fuel coupled with Cash for work to help women headed households and most vulnerable households to produce fodder for their livestock. The ripple effect here is that their cows can be able to produce sufficient milk for personal consumption as well as sale, this will put cash in their hands which will go a long way in helping them to cope with the effects of the drought.
Meet Halima
Halima Aden Ali a mother of nine children is one of the women who benefited from this activity. “Honestly the fodder BORESHA distributed was beneficial and helped my family cope with the biting drought that had threatened our very own existence since our animals which are our main source of livelihood were suffering” said Halima. On probing her further she said “the drought was badly affecting us, there was no feed for the cows and goats mostly lactating and I couldn’t afford to undertake fodder production since the cost of fuel and seeds were very high among other myriad of challenges. When fodder was distributed the situation improved, the cow’s milk production increased, the fodder sustained us until the first rainfall thanks to Allah” she added.
There is high demand for fodder from the local community due to its importance, the fodder is marketable during the dry season. Those that are capable purchase them straight from the farms hence cutting the transport cost as well as easing the need for farmers to take the grass to the market. BORESHA has eased the situation by providing the fodder as well as constructing a fodder store in the village which will benefit the local community during the dry season.
Challenges
Their main challenge prior to BORESHA intervention was the lack proper storage facilities. They needed proper housing structures with raised floors for storage of grass away from reach of termites and other pests. This was however overcome since the project has gone ahead to construct fodder storage facilities in the area which is managed and maintained by Livestock Common Interest Groups.
During drought and dry season men move away camels, cattle and strong goats to places where water and pasture can be found, making women and vulnerable animals left behind with little or no food or feed. Thus, women are responsible for the care of children and almost half of the herd that men left in the villages so as to save the others from the drought. She has been faced with this challenge on a seasonal basis, however the availability of fodder and storage has eased the burden for her.
The fodder activity is part of BORESHA’s efforts continuous efforts aimed at building resilience to drought and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities in the cross-border areas Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Quick Facts
• DRC BORESHA established 20 Livestock Common Interest Groups (LCIGs) with 465 members to build the capacity of the people on animal management and husbandry practices.
• DRC BORESHA engaged Barabaray and Warayle communities on Fodder production through Cash for Work
• Women headed households were the main target of the fodder production. A total of 60 Households benefited.