Istaahil Mohamed stands near the fireplace in her small restaurant and scoops freshly cooked rice from a pot onto a plate. Hailing from Ceel Xumo village in Burao district, Somaliland, Istaahil has come a long way to be able to serve this spoonful of rice in her own restaurant. She set up, owns and operates both the restaurant and the kiosk next to it, building on a successful venture into farming three years ago supported by FAO and WFP. Today, through this growing “small business empire,” as Istaahil calls it, this 40-year-old mother of four is now able to sustain her family and pay her children’s school fees.
Venturing into farming
Istaahil and her family used to depend on livestock, keeping as many as 20 goats. But after all her goats died following the severe droughts in 2016-2017, she decided to take up farming.
Despite having little knowledge about agriculture, Istaahil saw it as an opportunity to sustain her family, though by no means an easy one. She still remembers carrying jerry cans of water on her back to irrigate her small farm. For the first two years, she could only produce enough for her family’s subsistence.
Then Istaahil came across a Canada-funded, FAO-World Food Programme (WFP) joint initiative that was helping improve the resilience of communities in the area. WFP offered cash transfers for people to work on water catchments, which FAO then upgraded and linked to irrigation systems. “Now, I use water pipes to irrigate the crops,” she says with relief.
FAO also provided Istaahil and the other smallholder farmers in her village with some of the key agricultural resources needed, such as wheelbarrows, watering cans and seedlings, to grow their farms.
Istaahil’s farming really took off after basic agricultural training from WFP, followed by more advanced agricultural training offered by FAO. With this training, as well as the equipment and seeds provided by FAO, Istaahil was able to increase the variety and yield of the crops she produces. Working tirelessly in her small garden, just 12 by 14 metres, she was able to grow different fruit trees and vegetables, including spinach, kale, onions and tomatoes.
As she continued to expand her farm, she started producing surplus to sell at the market. Now, from a good harvest, she can sell 22 kilograms of vegetables on average.