Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Farming without soil helps to tackle Somalia's hunger crisis
DW (English)
Follow
today
In Somalia, internally displaced women who previously depended on food aid are growing spinach, tomatoes and leafy greens in hydroponic units with nutrient-rich water instead of soil.
Category
đź—ž
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
For these women in Somalia, working here is something very special.
00:06
They planted everything themselves.
00:09
And even though there's little water here in the region,
00:12
spinach, chard and cucumbers are thriving in the hothouses.
00:17
These beautiful farms have changed our lives.
00:23
We used to get tomatoes and spinach from the market and cook it at home.
00:29
Now we grow vegetables like spinach ourselves.
00:34
Our life has positively changed and we have many benefits.
00:39
The women have learned how to cultivate vegetables without soil.
00:43
They mix core coconut fibre from coconut shells with some water and plant the seeds in it.
00:51
SOS Children's Villages Somalia launched the project in Baydoa in 2022.
00:58
Farming is very difficult in this largely arid country.
01:01
Extreme weather events are making it even more difficult.
01:07
At SOS, we thought of initiating a new method called hydroponic farming,
01:16
which can cope with climate change.
01:22
After the recurring droughts and floods, which forced people to evacuate their farms,
01:27
we introduced hydroponic farming, which is quite new in Somalia.
01:31
The plants don't need much room to grow.
01:38
In a single hothouse, there are hundreds of pots in the pipes that are filled with water.
01:47
This water has been enriched with nutrients.
01:51
Like hundreds of thousands in Somalia, Amina Hassan has fled the conflict and extreme weather events.
01:58
The work in the greenhouse is crucial to her and her family.
02:03
She lives with her family in a camp for internally displaced people on the edge of Baydoa.
02:09
I have twelve children. Two of them died in the drought, but ten survived.
02:17
We spent one night in a town on our way to a village called Mador.
02:21
The drought continued, and as we walked, we spent the night in different places.
02:26
It was all due to a severe drought that had hit the country.
02:31
Training in hydroculture and hothouse cultivation is part of the program,
02:36
which is open to locals and people who have fled from other parts of Somalia.
02:41
Some 500 women and young people have taken part so far.
02:45
They're used to practice traditional arable farming.
02:48
We've been mostly teaching women this new method of farming.
02:55
We also taught a few men.
02:58
We mostly taught women because they're the backbone of the family
03:03
and are mostly engaged in food preparation and income generation.
03:08
That's why we decided to teach women about the hydroponic farming system.
03:15
Dotted around the city are 41 hothouses like this.
03:20
Each one is managed by 10 to 15 women.
03:23
They can harvest in all four seasons, producing enough food to cover their own needs and sell on the market.
03:31
Together, they have a turnover of the equivalent of approximately 5,200 euros a year.
03:39
Each woman earns some 43 euros a month.
03:43
To help build the hothouses, the organization gets funding from Germany and Sweden.
03:49
Each one costs 3,800 euros.
03:52
The water pumps are solar powered.
03:54
The government plays an advisory role.
03:58
The project enables the production of quality, nutritious food within a short time.
04:07
The introduction of cash crops through these initiatives not only feeds and benefits people,
04:12
but also generates income for local communities.
04:18
These efforts are essential in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change
04:22
and ensuring the well-being and livelihood of the affected populations.
04:29
Some of the vegetable crops are later planted out in sand to anchor the crop.
04:37
At first, many women were skeptical, but now they are convinced by the new approach.
04:43
We're asking the organization to expand greenhouse farming, so three to five people can share a greenhouse farm instead of 15.
04:53
We expect the organization to increase the number of greenhouses, since we've learned and now understand this method.
05:02
The pilot project in Baidoa is a success story.
05:07
SOS Children's Villages Somalia is planning to introduce hydroponics in other parts of the country.
Recommended
0:47
|
Up next
Somalia: Two years of drought have displaced nearly 1.17 million people
teleSUR English
10/11/2022
1:49
Somali children die as drought, terror reigns
NewsX
3/1/2019
1:48
Drought in Somalia could push an extra 1 million people into hunger: WFP
Guardian Nigeria
3/5/2025
2:24
Simple solution helps Ethiopian farmers to cut food loss
DW (English)
3/24/2025
5:34
A Libyan farmer growing organic food in desert conditions
DW (English)
6 days ago
1:00
Sudan faces severe food crisis
euronews (in English)
12/5/2024
4:30
Ethiopian farmers benefiting from vermicompost
DW (English)
7/2/2024
1:20
Somalia drought: UN warns of humanitarian crisis
Al Jazeera English
5/19/2019
1:56
Nothing to eat but cactus in Madagascar's hunger capital
AFP English
1/16/2017
2:05
Somalia: The Forgotten Story
Al Jazeera English
11/29/2016
1:04
Somalia's Salvation Is In The Ocean
FYI News
4/24/2017
2:21
Somali families devastated as child hunger worsens amid aid cuts
Africanews (in English)
5/27/2025
1:22
Surviving Ramadan in Somalia: Drought worsens the plight of IDPs
Al Jazeera English
5/3/2021
2:11
Somalia’s severe drought threatens children’s education
Al Jazeera English
3/4/2017
2:21
How hydroponic crops reduce herder-farmer conflict in Mali
DW (English)
6/3/2025
3:50
Iraq Farmers Turn To Groundwater To Boost Desert Yield
ETVBHARAT
4/25/2025
2:22
Ghana farmers face worst drought in decades
DW (English)
9/3/2024
1:38
PKR open to Rafizi's proposal for RCI on the judiciary, says Saifuddin
The Star
today
3:39
Najib gave no conflicting stories over RM42mil SRC funds, says Shafee
The Star
today
2:03
Responsibility for transactions lies with SRC International's board, says lawyer
The Star
today
3:05
Short track-Do you know what happens During sexual arousal inside the body_ what is the clitoris_
A To Z Videos
10/5/2022
6:30
Do you know how orgasm is in females_ female body and biology
A To Z Videos
10/5/2022
3:33
DONT FAP (Omegle & Chatroulette Funny Moments #82)
Aysesen2016
10/14/2015
5:00
China's Push for Robot Dominance
DW (English)
today
4:31
30 years on: the Srebrenica genocide explained
DW (English)
today