Farming Systems Approach to Advance and Disseminate Research Findings in Somalia

Dr. Aden Aw-Hassan

Because of the civil unrest since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in the early 1990s, the ability to advance and disseminate agricultural research findings to farmers in Somalia has been severely hampered. In this presentation, a brief history of past efforts to advance and disseminate research will be followed by a discussion of on-going and proposed farming systems approaches to improving agricultural production and profitability in the country. The presentation highlights the limitations of conventional approaches of agricultural research and extension, and draws lessons from recent developments in this field. The human component, with its multifaceted aspects, is not often explicitly and satisfactorily developed in agricultural research and extension programs. The presentation emphasizes necessary conditions for achieving the human resources development goals (poverty reduction, nutritional security, empowerment, skill development, gender considerations, equity, etc) of agricultural research.