The collapse of the central government in Somalia in the early 1990s affected farming adversely as extension services and export of produce came to a halt.
Nevertheless, local farmers like Abdurrahman Hassan Yusuf have adopted modern food production systems to beat hunger and malnutrition amid COVID-19 related disruptions.
The university student who is based in Somalia capital of Mogadishu is currently a celebrated greenhouse farmer who has ensured that households have an adequate supply of fresh produce.
"After the onset of COVID-19 which resulted in closures and cuts in imports, prices of goods including tomatoes shot up. The tomatoes I grow (plum tomatoes) are imported from Kenya and Ethiopia since they are not cultivated locally," Yusuf told Xinhua during an interview on Thursday.
Yusuf said that COVID-19 related restrictions jolted him into action, adding that there was an opportunity to fill the import gap and so he decided to put up a greenhouse which is known to yield more than the conventional open farming system.
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