VT EarthWorks Makes the Dreams of Somali Bantu Farmers a Reality
By Lisa Hightower, VT Graduate Student
Repost from http://www.outreach.vt.edu/Story.aspx?StoryID=234

“It’s a dream come true,” said Mahammudi Mganga as he discussed working with Virginia Tech’s EarthWorks to farm in Virginia. Mahammudi is part of a Somali Bantu refugee community numbering over 120 members living in Roanoke, Virginia. Integration into American society has been difficult for Mahammudi and the Bantu.

Mahamudi Mahdi, president of the Board of Somali Bantu in Roanoke, explained that the majority of Bantu lack English language skills and few are literate in their native languages. Mahamudi said that this language barrier has restricted the job opportunities for the Bantu in Virginia and made simple tasks like shopping and going to the doctor extremely difficult. While many of the Bantu struggle to integrate into American life, they bring with them decades of farming experiences from Somalia.

VT EarthWorks director Christy Gabbard is partnering with the Board of Somali Bantu in Roanoke and Virginia Tech’s Pilot Street Project to train the Bantu to farm in Virginia’s terrain and sell in American-style markets. VT EarthWorks has developed a training program called the Growers Academy. The Academy teaches farmers crop growing techniques, business plans, and market venues. “I’m ready to be a farmer here,” explained Hajiro Wehel, one of the Bantu farmers in the Growers Academy. Hajiro was a farmer in Somalia, growing crops for her family and for sale at market. This year Hajiro joins four other Bantu as participants of the 2011 Growers Academy.

For the Bantu farmers, the farming practices they are learning at the Academy are vastly different from the farming they experienced in Somalia. Hajiro explained, “We used to farm by our hands, by ourselves. Sometimes if you could afford it you could use machines. All the time back there it was always summer. We didn’t have snow or anything.” While the Bantu have found stark contrasts between farming in Virginia and Africa, there are some similarities. “There are a lot of things (in class) that we saw back home,” said Abdikadir Ali. Those similarities include the types of crops that the Bantu grew in Africa, many of which can be grown here in Virginia, including tomatoes, peppers, sweet potato, and pumpkin.

Upon completion of the course, the Bantu farmers, along with the other 25 program participants, will have the opportunity to start farming at the 377-acre Catawba Sustainability Center. The Center offers an abundance of farmland just over 15 minutes from the City of Roanoke. Academy participants will also have the opportunity to sell their crops at the Catawba Valley Farmers Market, run by VT EarthWorks, and Roanoke’s Historic Market.