Somalia: Balad, Afgoye farmers to rehabilitate Saboon barrage

By Abdirashid M. Dahir

Committee for Balad and Afgooye farmers has decided to carry out renovation works on Sabuun barrage near Jowhar, visiting the drainage basin supplying into the barrage at Hawadley point on April 23.

Farmers who truck their agricultural products mainly to Mogadishu have reeled under dry Shabelle River for a month. Haji Nasir Ali Ahmed from Afgoye and Balad Cooperative farmers Society said, the farmers of the two Shabelle would repair former facility that in the past stored water for the irrigation of farmland hectares.

Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle Farmers Association Chairman Hassan Barkhadle Wardere for his part asked Somali farmers to demonstrate self-reliance.

Balad dam, which was renovated by local farmers, became a bread basket for hundreds engaged in irrigation farming during the dry period.

Sabuun barrage was damaged by 20 years of conflict like many water infrastructures in dilapidated state in south-central regions.

The Sabuun barrage/bridge was the most important barrage in Middle Shabelle and was combined with the FAO canal. When it was operational, it served as a relief canal that filled a reservoir located 20 km from the river on the eastern side of Jowhar. The stored water was then used to irrigate sugarcane plantations during the dry season. Unfortunately, the FAO canal and the reservoir are no longer in use as the system collapsed due to lack of maintenance according to SWALIM River Atlas.

Read the Somali story on Jowhar