Saturday 4, October 2025 {HMC} – University’s Faculty of Agriculture is ‘one of the main human capital producers in Somalia in agriculture,’ says Mohamud Mohamed Hassan Harbi

MOGADISHU, Somalia/ISTANBUL: Zamzam University of Science and Technology (ZUST) in Somalia is making strides in tackling the country’s food security issues by increasing agricultural production.

The Mogadishu-based university, supported by Turkish institutions such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), offers modern agricultural technologies at its Faculty of Agriculture, where research and experiments are conducted and agricultural products are cultivated in greenhouses.

“We are very proud to say that one of Zamzam University’s main impacts in Somalia is improving food security to a certain degree,” ZUST Rector Mohamud Mohamed Hassan Harbi told Anadolu, citing the university as the first to bring greenhouse farming to Somalia.

The primary production in the university’s greenhouses includes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and various other vegetables, along with fruits such as bananas, mangoes and watermelons.

Training a new generation of farmers

Harbi said that after Turkish President (then Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 2011 visit to Somalia, IHH, TIKA and the Zamzam Foundation discussed how to train qualified farmers capable of boosting the country’s agricultural and food production capacity, as well as strategies to combat hunger in Somalia.

“The faculty is one of the main human capital producers in Somalia in agriculture,” he said.

Harbi said the faculty’s establishment marked the first step in advancing agricultural production, adding the university has since focused on teaching young people how to effectively apply modern farming technologies.

He said after two years of training youth through short courses and diplomas, they established the ZUST in 2014 with the Faculty of Agriculture.

The goal was to build capacity in food sustainability and production, later expanding to include health and medicine, and engineering and technology faculties, he added.

Overcoming water challenges to boost food security

While Somalia faced significant challenges in food production and security over the past 20 years, Harbi explained, the ZUST has trained high-quality farmers over the last decade who now work with the Agriculture Ministry and various states to improve food production across the East African country.

He said they began bringing farmers to the university to demonstrate how environmentally controlled greenhouses can help maximize water usage and increase farming production.

“Now Mogadishu’s vegetable production depends on farmers that we train, graduates that we produce,” he underscored.

While Somalia has two rivers and rich soil, many farmers depend on rainfed agriculture, Harbi said, because they cannot afford generators to pump water from the rivers, which is one of the most difficult challenges they face.

“If they get support for how to utilize the rivers and how to utilize well water from the groundwater, I think we can help the farmers produce enough food for Somalia,” he noted.

Cultivating a path to food security

Abdirizak Mohamed Sheikh Abdi, the faculty’s deputy dean and a Türkiye graduate, said agriculture was largely absent due to Somalia’s civil war, but with greenhouses established in 2012 through a collaboration between TIKA and the Zamzam Foundation, the locals learned that corn could be harvested 3-4 times a year.

He highlighted that food security is ensured through agriculture by teaching students modern farming technologies over four years, preparing them to tackle the country’s food shortage through high production.

Sesame and wheat are also grown, Abdi said, adding that wheat cultivation was made possible through trials conducted at the university.

“If the right steps are taken, there will be no famine or food crisis in Somalia,” he stressed.

Gokhan Kavak and Ahmed Satti 

Saturday 4 Oct , 2025 {HMC} Hamas has said that it accepts several parts of United States President Donald Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in Israel’s nearly two-year genocidal war on Gaza, but that some elements of the proposal require further negotiations.

Trump has responded early Saturday by telling Israel to “immediately stop bombing Gaza”, adding that Hamas was “ready for a lasting peace.”

Israel says it is preparing to implement the “first stage of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.” The government has instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza after it said it was preparing for an “immediate implementation” of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan following Hamas’ response on the plan, Israeli media reported.

On the ground in Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in the central Strip, said it was unclear if the Israeli bombing of the territory had stopped, as demanded by Trump.

But the enclave had experienced an unusual quietness around midnight as Trump was due to speak in Washington, DC, after Hamas had agreed in principle to key points in his 20-point plan for the war-torn territory, he said.

Smoke is still rising over the north of the enclave and small arms fire and the movement of Israeli military vehicles can still be heard clearly, he added.

But “compared to the past few days, the intensity of the bombardment and the use of extreme firepower is definitely less this morning and could be the beginning of a complete halt. But we don’t know when that is going to happen,” Mahmoud said.

“There is a clear de-escalation,” he said, adding that the distinct sound of Israeli drones – ever present in the sky over Gaza – could not be heard this morning.

Hamas handed over its response to Trump’s 20-point plan to halt the war on Friday, an informed source told Al Jazeera, hours after Trump gave the group until Sunday to respond to the proposal.

Trump’s 20-point plan included demands for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all remaining 48 Israeli captives – 20 are believed to be alive – for Palestinian prisoners, the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body, and the disarmament of Hamas.

The group’s response, which did not address the issue of disarmament, stated that it had agreed “to release all occupation captives – both living and the remains – according to the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, with the provision of field conditions necessary for the exchange”.

It added that it was ready to “immediately enter negotiations through mediators to discuss the details” of the exchange.

The group also said it was ready to “hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats) based on Palestinian national consensus and with Arab and Islamic support”.

That element of the statement appeared to indicate that Hamas, which would have to relinquish power under Trump’s plan, wants Gaza to be administered by Palestinians rather than Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace”, an international transitional governance body that would be overseen by Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Signalling that further negotiations would be required, it said aspects of the proposal touching on “the future of the Gaza Strip and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous national position and relevant international laws and resolutions”.

The statement comes after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that if an agreement was not reached by Sunday, then “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”

Later on Friday, Trump responded positively to the group’s statement, writing on Truth Social that he believed Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and calling on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly”.

“This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” said the President.

Window for negotiations?

Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said that the Hamas statement opened “a window for negotiations”. “Within the coming 48 hours, there is possibility for a lot of exchange,” he said.

Hashem said the group’s apparent reservations about the proposed “Board of Peace” were because it “isolates Gaza from the whole Palestinian cause”. “They [Hamas] do not want to see Gaza isolated from the bigger picture,” he said.

The Trump plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

The armed group also said it appreciated “the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as those of US President Donald Trump” to resolve the conflict.

“Hamas showed a lot of positivity here by accepting the spirit of the paper and praising President Trump’s initiative. In this way, they are showing that they are ready to extend their hand,” Hashem said.

“However, they have reservations, they have some points that they want clarification over, and the ball now is in President Trump’s court.”

After the release of the statement, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said outright that Hamas rejected the “Board of Peace”.

“We will never accept anyone who is not Palestinian to control the Palestinians,” he said, adding that Blair would be particularly unwelcome because of his role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Mediators welcome statement

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Rosalind Jordan said Hamas appeared “to be willing to accept some, if not most of the proposals”.

She said that further talks were to be expected and that “everything needs to be hammered out so that both, or all parties, agree to all the points”.

Mediator Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it welcomed the group’s response to Trump’s plan. Spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Qatar had begun working with fellow mediator Egypt and the United States to continue talks on the proposal.

Egypt said that it hoped for a “positive development” and that it would work with Arab states, the US and European countries to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was encouraged by the Hamas statement and urged parties to “seize the opportunity to bring the tragic conflict in Gaza to an end”, according to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The group’s response to the 20-point plan came as Israel continued its offensive on Gaza, with reports it was using remote-controlled vehicles packed with explosives to demolish entire neighbourhoods in besieged Gaza City after issuing a “last chance” demand that hundreds of thousands of trapped Palestinians leave the urban centre.

More than 66,200 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.