The Turkish project began in 2012 with the opening of the “Agricultural School in Somalia” to transform after years into the “Anadolu Agricultural College” until today it has become a center for agricultural training and education under the name of Zamzam Endowment University.
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So far, about 2,000 students have graduated from the university located in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and many of them have succeeded in continuing their agricultural careers and have managed a large number of greenhouses.
At a time when there were no greenhouses in Somalia when the agricultural school opened in 2012, the country now houses about 200 smart farming homes.
Zamzam University contributes greatly to the development of the plant wealth in Somalia by producing vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicum and eggplant of different varieties, the seeds of which are brought from Antalya, southern Turkey.
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Research is being carried out at the university to identify the most suitable plant varieties for Somali geography with the aim of focusing on the production of these varieties and expanding their distribution in the country.
In this context, the university inaugurated the Seed Research Institute, which aims to identify seeds that are suitable for the local soil in order to expand their spread.
Zamzam University allows its students to learn about different and new agricultural machines, in addition to training them on the most suitable irrigation techniques for their lands.
In addition to agricultural development, the university provides educational courses in poultry farming and ovulation, using the advanced technologies used in Turkey.
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Osman Abdul Rashid Hussein, a graduate of the Agricultural School in Somalia, said that he completed his postgraduate studies in Turkey to be appointed later as a researcher at Zamzam University and that he was one of the first students to graduate from the Turkish-Somali project.
He explained: “When the agricultural school project was launched in Somalia, there were no greenhouses throughout the country, so the project contributed to securing its spread after the Somalis saw them for the first time in the agricultural school in Mogadishu.”
He added, “Through the greenhouses, we identify the appropriate varieties for production and do our best to benefit farmers and students together from the university’s projects.”
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Hussein indicated that 2,240 students have graduated so far from Zamzam University, pointing out that these students completed their education through the scholarships offered to them.
In turn, Hassan Mahmoud Hassan, head of the Directorate of Poultry Care at Zamzam University, said that they started producing chicken eggs with 1,200 chickens they brought from Ankara.
He added that they are currently getting about 800 eggs per day from the poultry that were brought in previously.
He continued, “The poultry production project has turned into a production technique training project.”
Hassan added: “We aim by increasing production and training to get rid of dependency on the outside in this field.”
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Recently, official and UN warnings of the situation in Somalia reaching the stage of “famine” have increased due to the absence of an effective response to aid, along with fears of the failure of the upcoming rainy season, which makes the country and the entire region vulnerable to the worst drought season in 70 years.
