Somalia intends to increase its arable crop production, ultimately to attain self-sufficiency in cereals (except in wheat which cannot be grown in the country economically), decrease its import requirements of vegetable oils, become self-sufficient in cotton lint and exploit a potential export market in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia for water melons. brThe proposed project area has been found in the course of this study to be potentially suitable to further this overall objective: in most features it is similar, or better, than nearby areas where development projects have successfully increased agricultural production.