It was quite urgent travel to me as I had noticed a day before that I should embark tomorrow to Jowhar- the centre of Hirshabelle- my own regional state of Somalia, after I knocked off from work that day I reached at home so I had to take preparation and make myself ready as a tomorrow traveller, next day early morning I went to office to pick up some important documents and follow together with my Colleagues who accompanied with me on this trip, Right after taking my things I had directly approached to Aden Abdulle airport where our flight is about to kick
We departed
from Adden Abdulle airport on Tuesday- 10-8-2021 at 8:00 am morning as scheduled on
our tickets to Jowhar airport but something changed after the crew told us that the flight will advance to Bulo-Burte airport where we had taken few minutes of transit
after landing at 8:40 Am, during our transit some of the passengers settled
down as their tour destination was at Bulo-Burte while new passengers approaching
to Mogadishu had boarded on their seats and we immediately flew back to jowhar
The plane started descending slowly as getting closer to land at Mohamed dhere Airstrip in jowhar at 9:20 am, in this Airstrip there were no more crowd only few airport staff could only be seen,We then approached to the exit gate where a very good friend had warmly welcomed and prepared a vehicle, escorted to the city. As the road from the airport to jowhar is approximately 17 KM away from the city it took 25 minutes to reach the downtown
Although it
wasn't my first time to arrive at Jowhar as
Already visitor this arrival had quite
interesting to me ,despite the city
was suffering massive floods which surrounded the city and also engendered the
suspension of transportation along the road between Jowhar and Mogadishu,
leaving several passengers and commercial vehicles stranded. Even the main route from the downtown jowhar
to the airport was disconnected where most of the transportation and
passengers were never
imagining to travel between but we had safely arrived.
About Jowhar
Jowhar is the administrative capital of middle
shabelle region of Somalia the city was known Abruzzi as was named by the
senior member of the iItalian royal family Duca degli Abruzzi who founded
as an agricultural settlement in 1920
The city lies 90 km along major road north of the
national capital of Mogadishu,The district is divided into four subdivision
villages namely:Horseed, Hantiwadag, Kulmis, and bulo shikh. The town straddles
the Shebelle River and the eastern and western sides are connected by the
historic bridge
The Shabelle
river has historically been the economic engine of the region and great
agricultural center that supplied fruits and vegetables to the surrounding
regions and Mogadishu. Due to the lack of maintenance of the infrastructures
and absence of river management, Jowhar has lost this protagonism.
Agriculture in somalia is a major employment activity and the largest economic sector in the country,it contributes More than 65% to the national GDP likewise this city is familiar with agricultural production and most of the residents economic source of income is contributed by Cultivated land along with shabelle river
During my sightseeing and observations in the city and neighbourhood agricultural land I had observed the beautiful green Land along the river valley where you would never think of looking elsewhere, the blowing mango trees and tremendous kinds of fruits and vegetables was indeed mesmerizing , more additionally, white rice which this city is very familiar and unique could be seen harvesting in some places we came across
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| photo credit;Yusuf |
One of the first places I had visited was XIINTOOY a very popular area in the city where we had spent few minutes of sightseeing and snipping some photos, these observations were an eye opening to me for the prosperity and sources this land offers and indeed gave me some excitement and inspiration that I am the son of this productive land
SUGAR FACTORY
The sugar factory in jowhar as the history shows in
1919,an Italian explorer came to establish an industrial farming project after
his former assessment in 1918 toward shabelle river, experimenting appropriate
agricultural settlement to undergo a project, therefore, jowhar was found
as the most agriculturally developed city in Somalia, Italians were also keen to
acquire Mogadishu port to export products to their country which routed the idea of the construction of the highway
and railway line between the two cities
One year later 1920 S.A.I.S (the Societa Agricola Italo-Somala)
company established new industry for producing Banana, sugarcane and
Cotton
after the country overthrew the colony and took
independence the S.A.I.S reached an
agreement where 51% of the share will belong to Somalia while 49% for Italy, therefore
the name S.A.I.S was Changed to S.N.A.I (Societa Nazionale Agricola
Industriale) which produces 2,400 bags( 24 Tanns in a 24 hour operation
It was a major a source of income for most local
residents who went to work every morning while others were working in the farms
for cutting and transporting sugarcane, it also contributed massive number of
the Economic growth also export sector that boosted local standard of living as
well as competing with the international markets
to cut a long story short, people have great confident
in their land believing they have enough prosperous land that can enrich them
but missing the accessibility in producing lots of goods because of the absence
of agricultural tools and farming technology moreover what is worth to discuss
is that there is no much industries, proper infrastructure in terms of land and
transportation and also the most important factor; economic chain that can open
to the domestic and foreign markets
this sector which is turned a blind eye to it is the
sole sector which can contribute substantial amount of figures to the national
GDP in Somalia, reduce poverty and create job opportunities, investing it would
pave the way to the restructuring of
Somali economy and the country would be visible in the international market in
a short period of time
Although my schedule in jowhar were very tight I had
found lots of experience in staying there, what I never forget is jowhar people
are so nice in general ,they show us respect and let us feel like home may
Allah bear with the recurring floods.
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