Floods destroy crops in Hawadley village

Hundreds of people have been left food insecure after extensive flooding, landslides and flash floods in Hawadley village destroyed their farms. Crops and seed stocks have been badly damaged as River Shabelle broke its banks last night.

Millet, maize, sugarcane, beans and vegetables have been damaged.

Lower and Middle Shabelle are part of the country’s breadbasket and if the fields are still flooded in the next few months, there is a serious risk that the seed-planting season will be affected.

Goobjoog News reporter says that tomatoes and other vegetable crops had been completely inundated.

“The flooding has mainly affected vegetables but it also destroyed maize and millet, raising concerns about the next harvest”he said.

“All crops in low lying areas have been submerged,” said one of the farmers in that village. “At the moment, we are doing all we can to start from the base we have no other alternative.”

Farah Abdi’s simsim farm, which is about 20 meters from the River Shabelle has submerged and he suffered great loss as he has been planting his farm for last two months and was about to harvest.

The farmers demanded assistance from the government saying they had no means to raise fresh seedlings.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization some 20 million people in eastern and central Africa are facing acute food insecurity this year, up from the 15.3 million last year, with most of them being at emergency levels