Quit Pasturalism, Embrace Agriculture for Development.

[Caano Geel]

Jamaal, more to the point can you provide me with any strong economy in the African continent which can be said to have a progressive economy?, not mouled by corruption, aids, civil war/strive, and further how sustainable is an agricultural based economomy with concidering the competion from the rest of the world, the point is i think it is a circular argument, you need decent agriculture but not as the basis for an economy

[Paragon]

Have you forgotten about a country such as Zimbabwe? Just before Mugapi's land reform. I can name countries in the African continent that have done a conserable good job on their economies, which are based on large scale plantations as a source of export. For example, a country like Kenya relies heavily on agricultural produce as a source of export, it doesn't have oil or any other vast menerals but plantations of Tea and coffee. I cannot dispute the claim that majority of African countries are corrupted, economically mismanaged due to political instability and lack of structural transpirancy. But given a country like Kenya with zero-corruption can purely sustain and rely on agro-produce as a source of exportation to earn hard currency, why not Somalia?

 

What I am yet to see is a successful nomadic nation which both sustains its economy and exports its nomadic-produce to gain the much needed foreign currency.

[Coloow]

salaama, jamaal I agree 100%.

 

as long as a country has the capacity to feed its people, through agriculture, wax kale waa suubis(luxery).

 

A nation's wealth does not depend on export/import quota but the homegrown produce..

 

that is of course if it managed well!

[Jamster]

As narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, our sweet intelligent prophet SCW said "Al fadaadiinu Ahlu Wabar, Wa sakiinatu Ahlu Qanam" meaning patience and civility is with the people who herd goats and sheep and arrogance and harshness to those who herd Camels. I think this summs up it all. Generally people from Sanaag have lots of Iddo (ido meaning Ari qoor madooow nooh) and they are indeed more calmeer from those who are from neighbouring counties dare I mention Sool, Togdheer and even Bari.

 

Jamal, farming is all good but for any day my fellow I will stick with Geel.

[abdikhadar]

Asalaama Calaykum

 

Thanks brothers doodiina wanaagsan.

Waxaan oran lahaa Soomaalidu "Xagga barataye bal xaggana baro" Waligeen waxaanu ahayn xoolo dhaqato

natiijadeedii iyo horumarkeedana waan aragtay, maxaa dhacaya hadaan beeraha ka war doono. Maadaamo aan leenahay dhul balaaaran oo beeraha ku wanaagsan.

[abdikhadar]

Haddaan ku darsado waxaanu daris la nahay wadamada Khaliijka carabta, oo dhulkoodu saxare u badan yahay, maantana noqday Internationla market e.g UAE iyo kuwo kale, waa la hubaa in suuq aad wanaag san looga heli lahaa waxsoorka beeraheena.

Sida aanu xoolaheena ugu iib geynaba.

The world is chanching why not us.

[Paragon]

Farah you wrote:

Jamal, farming is all good but for any day my fellow I will stick with Geel.

Read the below narration...called "Pierce the Sky"

 

"Somalis have long debated the merits of a nomadic, pastoral existence versus those of a settled agricultural community. In this excerpt from a Somali poem, a nomad explains his decision to return to his herds after a brief try at farming:

 

 

It is said that one cannot pierce the sky to get rain for one's garden,

 

Nor can one drive the farm, as one drives animals, to the place

where the rain is falling.

 

Worst of all, one cannot abandon one's farm, even though barren,

because all one's efforts are invested in it.

 

The farmer, in counter argument, replies:

 

A man with no fixed place in this world cannot claim one in heaven. "

 

Abdikhar, sxb qodob wanaagsan ayaad soo jeedisay. mahadsanid. Waa runtaayoo mar hadii aan aragney natiijooyinka xoola-dhaqadka, waxaa habboon in aan bal ka war-doonno manaafacaadka kale ee aan dhulka ka dhuuxi kareyno. Soomaalidu sideedaba waa ay iskala weyntahay a)muruq-maalnimada, b)beeralleynimada iyo kalluumaysigaba...

[Warmoog]

Very interesting topic Jamaal...

 

I don’t believe the nomadic way of life is in our genes. I think leading pastoral lifestyles was one of the ways in which Somalis chose to adapt to harsh environmental surroundings. But it must be kept in mind that not all Somalis were nomads. Some developed agriculture where possible. Of the two, I think farming is better simply because constant moving - without ever settling in one place for a long period of time (if not indefinitely) - resulted in an accumulation of profound miseries for Somali nomads.

 

I agree the nomadic way of life is harsh and alters one's attitude. And although those traits you mentioned (ex: impatience, lack of gratitude, disregard for laws, arrogance, etc.) are expressed by all kinds of people, with many Somalis they seem to be turned up few notches. Whether it’s good or bad really depends on the situation. For instance, some traits educed by nomadic life (ex: toughness) have come in handy when fighting foreigners…but, more often than not, we fight amongst ourselves.

 

Salaamz.

[Samafal]

Good topic Jamaal,

 

There is no doubt the current state of our affairs is borne out from our hard nomadic life we inherited from our ancestors. I was recently watching a documentary about Botswana's Bushmen where by the government there was forcing them out of the bush they lived in thousand years to integrate them to the main stream Botswana society. The government argument was that these people are missing out on education and the civilization of the 21st century. The Bushmen was furious and called to fight to return their ancestral land.

 

Whatever the motive of their government I applauded the idea because with all the resource available, why they should let pass the opportunities of education, health care etc. Same applies to our people, why do we need to continue same old way we lived for centuries which really do more harm than good. But question that need a consideration is if we embrace agriculture is our land fertile enough for farming. I had the sense that the reason why the people in the south embrace agriculture is because they have a fertile land and the use of the two rivers while the most of the north is infertile, semi-arid land and short of irrigation.

 

But anyway agriculture is not the only options, we can embrace urbanisation with industrialization and quit nomadism, after all there aren’t a lot of us, we’re estimated around 8-10 million people and our cities are not crowded with people. But the bottom line is we’re a poor people and any change would not be dramatic, it will be a slow process and which need encouragment from government in power (which sadly there is no one at the moment).

[Sniper]

i'm pro BEERALEEY TOO.....though i didnt do much of a farming...DADDY did though....

[Waaq]

I think we can all agree with the traits Jamaal has described, but I must say this nomadism vs. agriculturalism is very simplistic. How many of us here were nomads? Not many I would imagine, yet we posess some of those same traits, however tempered they maybe by city life. There have always been agricultural/settled Somalis. Those who live on the coasts practiced a mixture of farming and herding, coupled with their trading activities.

 

I do not agree that the culture of "nomadism" is the problem. I know many of you have read the few books out there about Somalis. Many scholars described an active political system, which they felt to be quite democratic. Of course, there were wars or skirmishes, but as Steve Biko once said, "What do you call World War I and II?" Unfortunately, solid institutions take much longer to build than to tear down.

 

On the question of development, of course a strong agricultural sector will be necessary, but it cannot be the only economic activity occuring. I feel Somalia can become a trade and commerce center for Africa, if the potential government realizes that the private sector is crucial to growth. As such, any government should have minimal involvement in the economy. Most poor countries rely on the government as the sole employer, and the government over regulates every aspect of the economy. The US State department just issued a report stating that the only thing keeping Somalia from complete and utter collapse is the incredible amount of private sector companies delivering basic services, and building new infrastructure. This is a wonderful base from which to build.

 

What is stopping this progress is greed, selfishness, and ignorance, not nomadism. I speak of the warlords, and I mean every last one of them including the democratically elected leaders of Somaliland. These people have been corrupted by a diseased society (of course I am referring to the time of Siyaad Barre). The saddest aspect to me is that these thugs have been empowered by the international community to solve Somalia's problems. Peace is not there interest, they are getting rich because of the chaos.

 

instead of attacking nomadism we should organize ourselves to fight these problems you so eloquently described by Jamaal. In my opinion, Somalis have lost what nomadism gave them. A sense of pride, dignity, and the sharp intellect on one forced to deal with the most harsh of lives. I meet too many Somalis more apt to tell you what they can't do then go after what they know they can do.

 

I must admit that I am torn. I cannot pretend to know what many of the refugees are going through. I was born and raised in the West. But still I am saddened by the state of many of the Somali communities. Particularly in the US, they have fallen into the trap of Black Americans. So many are in jail, and few go to school.

 

peace

[Paragon]

Thanks for the contributions Nomads. They were indeed interesting to read through. Inkastoo aanan jawaab idinka siin sidaan u arko jawaabihiina, hadana I have been alittle short of time. Raali iga noqdo fadlan.

[Coloow]

salaama calaykum,

 

A common misconception about Somalis is the issue of how they lead their lives. This has been aggravated by "western" social scientists who did some kind of ethnographic studies on some nomads/pastorals. These so called scientists have over the years devised a myth about Somalis as being "nomads". In recent years this line of thinking has received added potency from somali academics who have bought the constructed myths without being critical ( a good example is this website where people are referred as nomads).

 

Historically, somalis might have practised some kind of pastoral life but in many parts of Somalia this has been combined with some kind of agrarianism. In Somalia, the fertile lands between the two rivers for instance have been home to people who live off the land. This is arguably the area that has the largest demographic density. In the north of Somalia around the Gebiley area, many Somalis have been practising farming for centuries. The coast has had people whose main way of life evolved around fishing (Merca, Mogadishu, warshiik, Bosasso, qandalla, caluula, Xiis, meydh , laasqorey etc).

 

Since the days of independency Somalia has experienced urbanisation (which is probably the single major cause of our contemporary predicament). What has happened was the abandoning of nomadic life to seek a better living in the cities where people worked.

 

The farming communities in the riverrine areas suffered during this period because their produce, mainly sorghum, millet, maize, beans were not preferred as meals by the new urbanised communities who were sold the idea that pasta and rice consumption was to be the norm for urbanised societies. In addition, many of the peasants either sold or lost their small scale farming entities to the urbanised population who turned them into plantations to grow desserts (banana, mango, papaya etc).

 

I agree with the poster that there is a need to embrace farming. I recently, read a paper on this issue. Farmers are in general less prone to violence.

 

What about nomadism? I think it would survive: My dad still leads the life of a nomad somewhere in the Somali territory in Kenya and I am planning to exploit the huge potential of combining entrepreneurship, nomadism and agriculture- marka ii soo duceeya.

[Paragon]

Historically, somalis might have practised some kind of pastoral life but in many parts of Somalia this has been combined with some kind of agrarianism. In Somalia, the fertile lands between the two rivers for instance have been home to people who live off the land. This is arguably the area that has the largest demographic density. In the north of Somalia around the Gebiley area,

many Somalis have been practising farming for centuries. The coast has had people whose main way of life evolved around fishing (Merca, Mogadishu, warshiik, Bosasso, qandalla, caluula, Xiis, meydh , laasqorey etc)

.

Shifta, you are exactly correct. A sizable number of Somalis do farm land to sustain their livelihoods but we wish the rest to follow. Those whom we wish to embrace agriculture are those who seem to be always on the path of famines.

 

Thankx shifta...

[Zaylici]

Any analysis that does not rest on emperical grounds is likely to be lost, I say this because many of you have not based on your analysis on local realities. FAO, has estimated that 45% of land in Somalia is suitable for grazing and posture, whereas only 13% of the land is suitable for farming, of this 13% only 2% is currenlty used for farming. 50% of camel population in Africa is found in Somalia, Somali governemt has estimated the total animal population 32 million, however, German study has found 21 million, all this suggest a conlcusion. Somalia has potential of livestock production more than crop production, the baises against nomadims and livestock production is unfounded, the view that nomadism cannot sustain itself and it outmoded form of production has been catogorically refuted by nemerous research and studies,thus we perhabs should think ways to make livestock sector better rather than think ways of inhibiting its capacity to flourish.My fellow nomads pay attention to the local circumstances,moreover, livestock in modern defintion used by IMF, World Bank and UN includes livestock, thus nomadism and agriculture are not mutually exclusive, harnessed livestock sector would enable us to feed Middle eastern population, in so doing we can secure stream of hard currency that would allow nomads to lead a decent life charecterised by modern convieneince of education, health and social services.

May the nomads, farmers, hunters, fishers and urbanites prosper in Somalia and elsewehre. Amen