Sun-drying fish, the Somalian way
Faced with the worst drought in living memory, more than 1 million people were forced to flee their homes last year as hunger tightened its grip, pushing the country to the brink of famine.
©FAO/Arete/Will Baxter
Somalia boasts the longest coastline of continental Africa.
Yet, its fisheries industry is one of the least developed in the world; only about 1 percent of the county’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) derives from fishery.
Coastal communities are some of Somalia’s most food insecure people.
To address this, FAO trains vulnerable women to sun-dry fish for consumption and to earn an income as well as teaches fishermen to learn new skills to bring in more fish and have better access to nutritious food for the larger population.
Women learn new skills to fight hunger and help their communities
Hawa Mohamed Abdi lives in a camp for displaced people in Bossaso, a coastal town in northern Somalia.
The camp - with its rows of corrugated iron shelters along sprawling paths - has been her home for over two decades.
“Here in the camp, we are all poor people,” she says. “Sometimes, we only have one meal per day. Other times, two. To eat three times a day is rare.”
Last year, Hawa joined a group of other women in the camp to learn how to sun-dry fish.