Quit Pasturalism, Embrace Agriculture for Development.

[Paragon]

[Notice: Through discussion, I hope we will bring forth useful suggestions towards a successful economic development programme for Somali people.]

 

In typical nomadic life, there are few recognised or well followed rules, which everyone obeys, except for the informal xeerka. So I was thinking, if all Somalis were farmers, woukd their case be different since they would be binded together by a common law necessitated by the permanence of residence?

 

A farmer has a neighbour, borders, land restrictions, and law that protects, governs the land, whereas the nomad has neither of these things i mentioned. Which means that if the Nomad had lived in one place for a long period of time, he/she is bound to formulate some sort of mechanism enabling him/her to co-exist his/her neighbours, and in turn, act pleasantly.

 

I believe atitudes simply depend on one's conditions of life. If one lives in a harsh environment, then there is a great chance that one might have an explossive and difficult atititude. A farmer has to behave well when it comes to his neighbours becouse he/she has no other hope to migrate from one place to another. So, the farmer, to ensure peaceful co-existance, has to uphold rules and regulations of where he lives.

 

So I say for one's atitude to change, he/she mush change lifestyles.

 

Will it be viable any new state in an era of globalization to depend on Pastralism in the long run? Having population growth and other related factors in mind, do you think agriculturalism will be the better choice?

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

JamaaL-11 waa lagu salamey sxb.

 

Good point, but isn't it true the vast majority of the inhabitants around the shabelle/juba are still nomads ... but with a comfortable climate.

 

Also talking about the South, there is more camel raised in the Bay/Bakool area than any other region in Somalia.

 

Nomadism is in our gene ... please don't make me a farmer now ... lol

[Paragon]

Libax-sanka-taabte, sxb thank you marka hore for your wlcm ..long time no see.

 

Secondly sxb, if we remain Nomads we wont stop the wars, and so long as clanism exist the wars between them will exist. We need a half-time from the war sxb.

 

Yes southa has many nomads but people from baydhabo janaay are less explossive in terms of atitude than others, unless forced

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

I dreamed a thousand new paths...

I woke and walked my old one.

 

A Chinese saying.

___________________

 

Jamaal, brother, enlighten me a bit. I did undertand that what you are trying to say or implying is that nomadism is for some reason related to aggresiveness or hostile environment?

 

If so, well, I don't know. It might be true, since a nomad's life is always harsh, especially where the climate is humid and dry.

 

...from baydhabo janaay are less explossive in terms of atitude than others, unless forced

You mean...?

 

By the way, Soomaalis never appreciate the little things of life. In our root culture, I guess, we never had a chance to learn by appreciating life to the fullest. To anyone or anything. When we mean to praise, we critisize, even though in our heart we mean to admire that thing or person. That is the way it is. You rarely see a Soomaali that appreciates or applauds something. The harshest dacaayad is in the aroos. Howsoever you try to please your guests on your aroos, they will always have a way to discredit it. "Did you see her face? Too much boorbaro...Did you see the bride? She never deserved him...Did you eat the bariis? It was so qaleel, even ari ma cuni laheen!..." We enjoy that.

________________

 

Macsalaama!

[Paragon]

MMA yes sxb, runtaa waxay tahay, Nomadism's motto is harshness. That harshness is what some people call "Karti", Hebloow waa nin libaax-ah oo cadkiisa goosta and that neccessitates aggression. I believe in "Qeylo la'aan waa la naaxaa". Why do we have to endure all this hardships when we can lead a simpler/comfortable life? Atleast it would be nice to be a part-farmer for that may spare us lots more harships.

 

What is the land for if we cant grow on it? The more we practise Nomadism the more we destroy the land. These frequent movements of herds of livestock causes more soil erosion than anything else. So, must we blind ourselves from the truth that we have to somehow change our way of living? No i don't think so. The whole world has realised how unreliable Nomadism is and many embraced agriculture, why not us?.

 

If the khoi-san(busara) and the khoi khoi of kalahari desert can change their lifestyle then why not us?

[Baydan]

Jamaal this is realy interesting..

 

I think Libaax summed up in the genes, I mean. Look at your example how even some educated folks dont change I hardly think switch from nomadism to farmers would bring about the change we need. I remember a certain conversation I had with a Somali prof at my college and I recall him saying "adeer your soft spoken you must have been born in a city" I laughed asked why he say that, he replied "after years and years of living in the city some of the best in the world (he is syracuse/washington educated)I'm yet to get rid of this 'laudness' "(yeh he shouts when hes talking) To wich he which he contributed as a factor that associates with "Nomadism" and having grown-up in wide open graze-lands where people shout to be heard. Something I've never realy concidered!

 

Interesting how the thing is already in our genes the prof's children shout when talking just like their Daddy lol I guess what I'm trying to say JamaL is, this might already be too late, it( the laudness, the arrogance, the temper) has shaped and redefined our people and is the-not-so-admirable trade of our culture. That's not to say that we cant strive for improvement.

[Paragon]

Baydan salaam first and secondly, it is true to think that we cannot change but not untill we give change a chance. When I talk of change i mean change in the future, maybe for our future generations. The loundness will fade away when the need to employ it disapears or is not there anymore. If change is given a try then there would be no need to be far away from each other. Stay closer and speak softly

[Macalin]

OK.Jamal..good thinking!

damn are we so loud/arrogant/know-it-all?

i didnt notice all this, maybe am one of the true nomads-lol

I have never been to baadiya yet 3/4 of my family is reer guuraa and suprisingly they really soft spoken and "alahood aa allah ah"(lol).they wonder with our hectic lifestyle,loudness,arrogance and selfish reer "baladnimo" which interestingly to them is one life not to live.

now-we have a background and generations of being nomads, and as a matter of fact,we look down on agriculturism(!).

and if you look at how much we value animals,that will show you.

Allah gave us this and again look at the bright side.

We nice people who love to laugh,say hi to somali strangers who we never met,give foood to on another(yall know this one-one person pays for the whole bill!)

come to ones house and not feel a stranger.

we joke and laugh @ each others jokes(silly ones..you know wat i mean guys.)

call each other "habartaa ****" and not get mad(now tell me how many communities do this one-lol)

we treat gals very delicatly and love em.

we respect our elders(even if hes not related to you_adeer/eedo-lol)-now all this are postive!

but i see where you coming from!..good analysis saxb

[Paragon]

"damn are we so loud/arrogant/know-it-all?

i didnt notice all this, maybe am one of the true nomads-lol"

 

LoL I am sure you are. We all are.

[Caano Geel]

umm, nomadims was not a choice, it was the only viable method of securing a livelyhood in a very harsh environment for a very long, more importantly people are not just onething or the other, i.e. nomads trade with farmers and vise-versa each has its good and bad points and provides services to the other, can you relay on the rains comming nxt year? or can you move 100's of miles with your livestock for rain that may not come in time if at all? -- read 'Guns, Germs and Steel' by Jared Diamond, its about why different cultures devoloped technology polical structures and mainly guns steel and germs (to help them wipe out the other cultures) at different times & rates thus how we have come to the world political/ecomonic status today, its not about somalia but does explain why farming is NOT the answer and why it was not adopted in many parts of the world untill recently.And the relationship between herding and wars ummm, call me stupid but i cant see it. I thought it was greedy, corrupt, degenerate, mass murdering wanna be dictators

robbing us of our humanity, dignity, country

[Gabbal]

People lets not jump on Jamaal. I think he brought up a good idea, and I don't see anything wrong with his proposal. Why don't we embrace agriculture and put our historical occupation to rest for once? Is anything wrong with that? I dont see anything worng with it.

 

Pastrolism is our history and identity and we should never forget it, but does that mean we will occupy our lives with that "job" way into the twenty first century? No, it doesn't. I mean if I ever mentioned that to my grandma, she would propaply call me a stupid boy, but I really do think we need to embrace agriculture wholeheartedly for once. It might save us, who knows.

 

Herding spreads desertification, which is a common enemy to our environment and other such, so maybe we should change our present, but still remember our past.

 

thats my 2 cents.

[Paragon]

Caano geel

 

Brother, I clearly do follow your arguement, and to some extent, I think you have a good point by stating the environmental need that have prompted our founding fathers to opt for nomadism, rather than opting for subsistance or arable farming.

 

However, the issue I am raising here has much to do with sustainable economic growth and development. As the world becomes more globalized and technologically advanced, we (Somali Nomads) may possibly miss-out on major developmental benefits that would have come globalization such as highly mechanised agricultural production that could be a viable cash-crop for the primary export of our country.

 

Economical sustainability may not be the only reason why i suggest agriculturalism; but my main objective for suggesting a transition from Nodamism to agricultralism can surely be justified by the nomadism-induced negetivity that is destroying our environment. Just as brother Horn-africa mentioned.

 

I can understand your concerns of relying on unreliable rainfall, but with good water management and agricultural knowledge, trust me, the fertile land thats in between of Jubba and Shabele river can sustain the entire Somali pupulation. I know people will be asking themselves how it could be possible to concentrate the entire Somali population in such a small portion of land, but surely, the need for conflict will diminish as soon as people become perpament residents who own private property. And there will be no need for wars between clans coz of water and pasture.

[Caano Geel]

Jamaal, dont get me wrong i am not trying to say that you dont have a point, but i have heard this argument numerous times, i agree with you that herding/nomadism is not good for the environment, it does lead to desertification, but neither is intensive farming (ddt -which is consequently banned in europe and america but was happily dished out to the third world untill recently-, geneticly enhanced crops -do you want Monsanto controlling what farmers grow?- fertilisers and pesticides -which polute the land, water system and the animals that live on the land- and so on). On top of that intensive farming is the only option if you want to feed a pupulation of millions and growing . however the link between economic prosperity and farming i dont see, most of the worlds population of farmers live in dire poverty (put a search into google for poverty and farmers and see how many horrors you get),its only european and american farmers that do well because they are subsidised by their countries eu and american farm subsidies is a hot economic topic because its against the rules of fair competition in an open market, thus leads the earlier problem of starving farmers (a paradox i know) even worse if we are thinking about in on an environmental level, the world does already produce enough food to feed its population, however its against economic advantages to feed everyone at the expense of all - not high enough profit margins. again the point on the war and fighting over land, why would a fertile crescent be any less attaractive to those seeking power than a patch desert, people fight over the smallest bit of land that contains nothing because they are terretorial animals, which doesnt excuse them, and further i refuse to belief that we're all refugees because people are fighting over land, their fighting for power, land comes with power.

[Caano Geel]

p.s. mind the spelling on the last post typed too fast and labtop keyboards are arse..

[Paragon]

Caano geel

 

It is true that many of poverty-ridden countries have based their lifelihood on agriculture, but on the other hand there are many successful economies who depend on agricultural cash-crops. So my question is, can you provide me any strong economy in the African continent which can be said has a progressive economy due to pasturalism?

 

I don't know if we switch from other source of livestock keeping to effecient sustainable beef and goat/sheep production.