Sheikh Highland Agriculture
80,000 ha AEZ-A/B · USD 637M/yr exports · 80,000 direct jobs · pykrige soil salinity mapping
Crop Portfolio — Phase 3
| Crop | Area | Yield | Revenue/yr | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horticulture (tomato, pepper, onion) | 20,000 ha | 25 t/ha/yr | USD 180M | Gulf reefer export |
| Mango & banana (perennial) | 5,000 ha | 20 t/ha/yr | USD 140M | Gulf premium |
| Alfalfa (livestock feed) | 10,000 ha | 18 t/ha/yr | USD 112M | Livestock + export |
| Grain & pulses | 30,000 ha | 3.5 t/ha/yr | USD 105M | Domestic + Burco |
| Sesame & oil crops | 15,000 ha | 1.2 t/ha/yr | USD 100M | Export oil |
| TOTAL | 80,000 ha | — | USD 637M | — |
Gulf food security context
Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar import more than 80% of their food. Reefer shipping from Berbera Port to Dubai: 3 sailing days. Sheikh horticulture can reach Gulf supermarkets in 5 days from harvest — competitive with Kenya (7 days by air freight at 10× the cost).
AEZ Classification (pykrige kriging)
The pykrige library performs Ordinary Kriging interpolation of soil salinity (ECe) from 22 synthetic borehole points, classifying land into Agricultural Ecological Zones. A spherical variogram model is fitted to the data.
| AEZ | ECe (dS/m) | Area (est.) | Suitability | Best crops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEZ-A | <2 | 25,000 ha | High value | Horticulture, fruit |
| AEZ-B | 2–4 | 55,000 ha | Commercial | Cereals, alfalfa |
| Restricted | 4–8 | 12,000 ha | Limited | Salt-tolerant only |
| Excluded | >8 | 8,000 ha | Not suitable | Rehabilitation needed |
charts/nb13_pykrige_salinity.png.Phase Build-Out & Employment
Sheikh Highlands — Regional Agricultural Context
The 80,000 ha agricultural zone sits at 1,550m ASL in the Sheikh highlands, northwest of the Berbera urban area. The Greater Berbera boundary encloses the full coastal-to-highland corridor.