For centuries, Baardheere District of Gedo Region has been synonymous with agriculture and family farming. The second economic engine of this southern Gedo Region is livestock and animal byproducts for export.

During the 1900s, animal skin, leather and butter earned great deal of income for the most of the towns and villages and pastoral communities in Gedo Region. Herders brought fresh milk to  towns and larger villages each morning and evening.

The management of Baardheere Polytechnic College system, community leaders and business people have sought an idea to create the first Veterinary Institute in Southern Somalia, particularly in the Jubba Regions.  

The Baardheere Veterinary Institute will be established with the help of Bardera Polytechnic College’s various departments and staff expertise. Gedo region has always been a major producer of livestock and profit making animal byproducts such as butter, leather and hide. This was evident during the central government rule from independence in 1960 to immediately prior to the overthrow of Somali central government and the insuing civil war in 1991.

The needs of herders out there for veterinary services is always greater than the services any institution can offer to herders who are always on the move between grassing lands on either bank of the Jubba River. Herders move their animals in the interior of Jubba Valley regions depending the season. Jubba Valley Regions is estimated to have the largest livestock head count in the country.  

Gosha and Gendiga Project, a department from the Ministry of Forest and Livestock of the Somali Centeral Government, from 1970s to 1980s, had been the go-to-agency for all the needs of the herders in Gedo region and other farming regions in Somalia. Gosha iyo Gendiga Project offered variety of help to herders of camel and cattle around Shabeelle and Jubba rivers where most of the grazing fields and forest areas of Somalia are found. The project prevented and treated insect bites, especially during rainy seasons of Gu' and Deyr. 

Observations of disease presence in animals, inoculations, veterinary medicine with minimal costs and fees and advice to herders, are some of the services Bardera Polytechnic will be offering to herders in the region. The school is conducting fundraising activities to collect money to buy some  basic vehicles to transport veterinary technicians to go to various fields.

Currently, herders in southern Somalia and those in North Eastern Province of  Kenya are suffering greatly, especially with the droughts in the last few years such as the major droughts of 2005 and 2008. Animals travel great distances to find water and lands suitable for grassing.

Desperate herders cross international boundaries between Somalia and Kenya. Herds carrying local diseases could have devastating affects on host animals. It’s essential to have joint efforts for information sharing and awareness between institutes and centers dealing with the welfare of these communities. Animals near Jubba River from Bardera, Doolow, Saakow or Kismaayo could reach far distances and go as far as Tana River, such areas as Garissa or vise versa.