Insects destroy vegetable farms in Hiraan

(ERGO) 14 March, 2016: Vegetable production on farms around Beledweyne, the main town in Hiran region, has been badly affected by plagues of insects over the past two months.

Farmers along the banks of the river Shabelle would normally expect to be selling their produce in the markets by now.

Instead, the area is experiencing a shortage of vegetables, with prices extremely high as a result.

Beledweyne normally exports surplus vegetables surplus for sale in Galgadud, Mudug, Bari and Nugal regions as well as the northern regions.

In Qura’ley, six km from Beledweyne, vegetable farmers like Maylun Mohamed Heyle have made huge losses. She told Radio Ergo that she and two other women jointly own a roughly half acre plot that came under attack from various insects.

She estimated their losses at around $10,000, saying the only thing she could salvage from the farm was the machine used for irrigation.

“We won’t be able to plant anything else on our land until we get a proper solution for these invading insects,” she said.”

Nur Abdi was somewhat luckier as he managed to harvest some watermelons, onions and bell peppers from a small section of his farm, although crops on the largest part were destroyed. “I owe people the money I borrowed to buy fuel for irrigation and I can’t pay it back,” he said.

Mohamed Jimaale was expecting to harvest 50 bags of sesame and watermelon from his farm in Garaash, 18 km from Beledweyne. However, the watermelons were all eaten by insects and he could only harvest two bags of sesame.

He put his losses at Sosh 36m, taking into account the farm inputs from the last deyr season.

Mohamed said he would need help from relatives and small loans to pay for the family’s needs including school fees for his children.

The places worst affected are irrigation farms in Helo-banan, Camalow Qoqane, Ba’aad and Shinile villages.

Source: Radioergo