Somalia Removes Fertilizer Restrictions to Strengthen Agriculture and Improve Food Security

In the hubbub of Mogadishu, news has just dropped that Somalia’s cabinet decided to lift the ban on chemical fertilizers. This move aims to cranking up efficiency in agriculture, tackling food shortages, and minimizing how climate change has been throwing curveballs at farming in the region.

Announced with a bit of fanfare on Thursday, this policy is a linchpin in the government’s plan to breathe new life into the agriculture sector. This sector, by the way, is the bread and butter for over 70% of the people, plus it makes up to almost two-thirds of the nation’s GDP. Officials reckon that rolling out chemical fertilizers again will refresh the nutrients in worn-out soils, boost the harvest, and get the economic engine humming in the countryside.

It’s a move that couldn’t come sooner in a place grappling with everything from spanking droughts to pesky locusts and an infrastructure that’s pretty much left on the shelf. The goal? Cut down on how much food has to be shipped in from abroad and steel the country against climate smackdowns.

Sure, fertilizers put a pep in the step of crop yields, but there’s a flipside: if you go overboard, you could trash the soil, mess with water quality, and, well, make Mother Nature a bit irate. So, the government’s got a game plan to put guardrails on this by rolling out tighter regulations, cheerleading sustainable farming, and lining up some know-how sessions for the farmers.

If you peep over to neighbors like Ethiopia and Kenya, you’ll see they’ve cracked the code by pairing fertilizers with soil-saving tricks and farming smart in the face of climate quirks. Somalia’s keen to scribble notes and copy some pages from their playbook to set up shop for the long haul.

This shift doesn’t just wander in the wilderness. It dovetails quite well with the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, which basically says, “Hey, let’s grow sustainably and have each other’s back regionally.” No surprise, then, that Somalia’s eyeing partnerships with global donors and NGOs to bankroll and keep these initiatives on track.

Edited by: Ali Musa

alimusa@axadletimes.com

Axadle international–Monitoring

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