28 January 2018•Update: 28 January 2018
By Sinan Uslu
MOGADISHU
Students have grown a variety of agricultural products for the first time at the Agriculture School in Somalia, founded by Turkey-based agencies.
Melon, cucumber, aubergine, bean and tomato varieties were successfully cultivated for the first time besides the industrial plants such as wheat, soybean and corn.
The Agriculture School Project in Somalia was put in practice in 2012, by the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation in collaboration with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
Within the scope of the project, TIKA also established a greenhouse on the campus settlement in 2016 in order to teach modern farming techniques, TIKA said.
TIKA also provides farm equipment such as tractors, hoeing machine, grain drill and silage machines, according to the statement.
During the training period, students received practical agricultural training on issues such as seeding, irrigation, hoeing, spraying, harvesting and re-seeding.
Around 500 students have graduated so far after attending the course.
- Somalia does not have sufficient agriculture culture
Somalia does not have sufficient agriculture culture, TIKA’s Somalia Coordinator, Galip Yılmaz said the school provided free education to 180 students.
Agriculture engineer Yilmaz said Somalia which has an agricultural potential for all geography and for harvest three-four times in a year from various products could not get efficiency from its lands till now.
TIKA's new agricultural project in Somalia `Shabelle Basin Agricultural Development Project` will be put into practice this year, he added.
