If Yemen can do this in a desert why not Somalia?
- Thread starter Abaq
- Start date
Yemen cultivates both coffee and khat, despite its dense population, Although they have an mountainous terrain. In contrast, Somalia has far more fertile land but imports khat worth billions of dollars from Kenya and Ethiopia and grows very little of its own crops.
There is only one reason for this, Somali people are extremely lazy(except for the geeljire).
Theyre not lazy they just donβt know how to grow stuff. Somalis are pastoralists in nature and most of the people in major cities today are 1 generation removed from miyi culture. Most of them should be sent back to where they came from
Even this 'not knowing how to grow stuff' is a huge misconception. Somali nomads themselves used to plant some kind of grain if I am not mistaken, how else did we eat canjeelo. In addition, there are old date farms in Bari. I am sure there is more evidence out there. Maybe @Idilinaa will post evidence before the retirement?
Documentary about an ancient trading town called 'Geesaleey'
They mention the founding of the place, was 5 centuries ago, but I am sure it's far, far older.
www.somalispot.com
Yemen is not fully a desert, it holds the most agricultural fertile land in all of Arabia. Their fertile land covers more area than Somalia and has more rainfall. Most of Somalia is not cultivatable without heavy modern equipment and investments, except for certain areas like the NorthWestern Highlands and Jubba Shabelle Valleys where you have historical farming communities. In Eastern lands they cultivate date plantations and wood to circumvent the saline soil that prevent other crops.
In Yemen they actually scaled back coffee production to cultivate more Khat which has crippled its society, on the other hand Somalia they cultivate and export Banana and Sesame as cash crops which they export.
Some coastal Somali cities are esentially built in a desert, especially older historic ones such as Zeila, Berbera and Mogadishu, Merca and Barawa which were located on the coast. Same with the old date plantation city of Geesalay as you mentioned
Only the interior modern cities grew around fertile agricultural settlements like Burco, Borama and Hargeisa. They were essentially centers connected to farming villages . So i have no idea what @berberaboy66 @Garaad.XIV are on about, where there is suitable fertile land , Somalis farmed. Whether they farm or not has nothing to do with being lazy
Historically Zeila and Berbera they farmed grains which needed heavy uses of water transport and collection because of lack of rainfall but most was supplied with grains from further in land but Mogadishu, Kismayo, Merca and Barawa is surounded by sand dunes on all sides made it unsuitable for farming even with water availability so they relied on the far interior of shabelle for food production.
Lets just take Barawa as an example , it literally is a city built in a desert.
In Yemen they actually scaled back coffee production to cultivate more Khat which has crippled its society, on the other hand Somalia they cultivate and export Banana and Sesame as cash crops which they export.
Some coastal Somali cities are esentially built in a desert, especially older historic ones such as Zeila, Berbera and Mogadishu, Merca and Barawa which were located on the coast. Same with the old date plantation city of Geesalay as you mentioned
Only the interior modern cities grew around fertile agricultural settlements like Burco, Borama and Hargeisa. They were essentially centers connected to farming villages . So i have no idea what @berberaboy66 @Garaad.XIV are on about, where there is suitable fertile land , Somalis farmed. Whether they farm or not has nothing to do with being lazy
Historically Zeila and Berbera they farmed grains which needed heavy uses of water transport and collection because of lack of rainfall but most was supplied with grains from further in land but Mogadishu, Kismayo, Merca and Barawa is surounded by sand dunes on all sides made it unsuitable for farming even with water availability so they relied on the far interior of shabelle for food production.
Lets just take Barawa as an example , it literally is a city built in a desert.
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Please stop with the misinformation. Somalis DO farm and have done for centuries.
Somalis in the south have been blocked from exporting our agriculture by western countries purely to keep us in perpetual poverty.
Infact one of the most productive farming communities you would find between Hargeisa and Harar.
Hargeisa, Borama, Gabiley and Burco etc are all farming settlements that grew into cities and people farm and cultivate various crops in the surrounding country side, but unlike the south and Harar uplands/ Or Erer zone, its primarily subsistence based for the current moment mostly sorghum and maize.
If you want to increase activity it would require some investment. When the Kacaan government invested into the area with better equipments, it grew surpluses
I wouldn't say it's been directly blocked, its been undermined and some of it's owed due the collapse of the the state and conflict, that kept people for sometime producing things outside local consumption.
Before the 91 collapse, Somalia was the biggest exporter of Banana, with extensive banana plantations.
Somaliaβs post-conflict banana harvest revival
Once the countryβs largest industry, banana farmers return to plantations as Somalia conflicts cool off.
Luckily food exports like Banana and Sesame have been picked back up again in recent years. The sesame export is valued at 300 million annually, current our biggest crop export next to lemons.
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Infact one of the most productive farming communities you would find between Hargeisa and Harar.
Hargeisa, Borama, Gabiley and Burco etc are all farming settlements that grew into cities and people farm and cultivate various crops in the surrounding country side, but unlike the south and Harar uplands/ Or Erer zone, its primarily subsistence based for the current moment mostly sorghum and maize.
If you want to increase activity it would require some investment. When the Kacaan government invested into the area with better equipments, it grew surpluses
I wouldn't say it's been directly blocked, its been undermined and some of it's owed due the collapse of the the state and conflict, that kept people for sometime producing things outside local consumption.
Before the 91 collapse, Somalia was the biggest exporter of Banana, with extensive banana plantations.
Somaliaβs post-conflict banana harvest revival
Once the countryβs largest industry, banana farmers return to plantations as Somalia conflicts cool off.www.aljazeera.com
Luckily food exports like Banana and Sesame have been picked back up again in recent years. The sesame export is valued at 300 million annually, current our biggest crop export next to lemons.
I would agree with you about everything except for the directly blocked thing.
The US created an embargo on all agricultural exports from Somalia which was our main export to not only Asia but also Europe claiming that is how warlords got their arms supply. Obviously thats a BS reason to economically cripple a country. They then flooded our country with rotted USAID destroying our local markets as well.
This isnβt the first time western countries try to economically cripple us as well. When we gained independence from Britain and subsequently Italy, the British empire destroyed our railway in the south and several manufacturing plants in modern day Puntland.
Most Somalis just assume just because our industries have died that they never existed and itβs sad.
Yemen is not fully a desert, it holds the most agricultural fertile land in all of Arabia. Their fertile land covers more area than Somalia and has more rainfall. Most of Somalia is not cultivatable without heavy modern equipment and investments, except for certain areas like the NorthWestern Highlands and Jubba Shabelle Valleys where you have historical farming communities. In Eastern lands they cultivate date plantations and wood to circumvent the saline soil that prevent other crops.
In Yemen they actually scaled back coffee production to cultivate more Khat which has crippled its society, on the other hand Somalia they cultivate and export Banana and Sesame as cash crops which they export.
Some coastal Somali cities are esentially built in a desert, especially older historic ones such as Zeila, Berbera and Mogadishu, Merca and Barawa which were located on the coast. Same with the old date plantation city of Geesalay as you mentioned
Only the interior modern cities grew around fertile agricultural settlements like Burco, Borama and Hargeisa. They were essentially centers connected to farming villages . So i have no idea what @berberaboy66 @Garaad.XIV are on about, where there is suitable fertile land , Somalis farmed. Whether they farm or not has nothing to do with being lazy
Historically Zeila and Berbera they farmed grains which needed heavy uses of water transport and collection because of lack of rainfall but most was supplied with grains from further in land but Mogadishu, Kismayo, Merca and Barawa is surounded by sand dunes on all sides made it unsuitable for farming even with water availability so they relied on the far interior of shabelle for food production.
Lets just take Barawa as an example , it literally is a city built in a desert.
I remember reading a bit of Virginia Luling's book on the Geledi Suldaans. They pretty much had a chokehold on the Banaadir ruling councils automatically when they gained control over the caravans and agriculture of the riverine south. When the Omanis wanted to build their fort they just bypassed the Banaadir community and went straight to the Geledi for permission.
It goes to show, by the way, how absurd it always was to ever even suggest these towns were dominated by anything other than Gibil Madows and the tribes of the interior. They were historically completely dependent on the caravans of the interior, not just for food but for even all their exports.
I don't know why people think Somalis is an aired place, because it's truly not. The problem we have is we too many grazing animal which wipeout the grass land and small tree. For instance we have more grazing animal then Somalis in Somalia. Somalia is not 4th largest exporter for livestock animal. This why Somali is so aired. Its due to miss management of land use
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Sometimes I even forget Yemen exists, one of those countries you donβt notice, along with Oman.
