Hiiraan Online
Friday March 11, 2016
BELEDWEYNE (HOL) – Aid workers and local officials in the central Somali region of Hiiraan warned that severe water shortages continue to threaten farming communities in provincial capital of Beledweyne and large parts of the region, one of the country’s major producing sources.
Last month, the United Nations warned that more than 50,000 children in Somalia "face death" because of the ongoing drought there.
Water crisis also forced residents to transport water from distant boreholes, few of the water sources left for the region after the Shabelle River which is an important water supply source for the region’s farmers has been drained dry due to droughts, leaving crops failed and dried,
Speaking at an emergency meeting between aid workers and the region’s administration, Yusuf Ahmed Hagar, the governor of Hiiraan region pledged his administration’s readiness to implement water-shortage contingency plan to tackle the region’s water crisis, calling for support by aid agencies.
”This is an emergency situation that requires an urgent attention and action to tackle the water crisis.” He said.
Meanwhile, farmers have expressed concerns over the impact of the drought, calling aid agencies to take urgent measures to enable them to continue crop productions.
Aid workers in the region said that the failure of the annual rainy seasons along with the dryness of the traditional rain water catchment facilities due to the drought exacerbated the situation, denying farmer of any farming prospects.