page_title: Agriculture in Somalia
section_title: Farming
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in Somalia / Farming
caption_attribution_description: maize field near Jamaame, Somalia
context_page_description: Agriculture in Somalia is a major employment activity and is the largest economic sector in the country. It contributes more than 65% to the national GDP from domestic distribution and exports to other parts of the continent, the Middle East and Europe.
context_section_description: Somalia's farming areas are concentrated in the southern part of the country, in the Gedo, Middle Juba, Lower Juba, Lower Shebelle, Middle Shebelle and Hiran regions. The Juba River and Shabelle River pass through these provinces, rendering the soil more conducive to crop cultivation than the comparatively arid north, where pastoralism has instead traditionally been practiced.
  Principal crop exports include bananas; sugar, sorghum and corn are products for the domestic market. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, imports of goods total about $460 million per year, and have recovered and even surpassed aggregate imports prior to the start of the civil war in 1991. Exports, which total about $270 million annually, have also surpassed pre-war aggregate export levels but still lead to a trade account deficit of about $190 million US dollars per year. However, this trade deficit is far exceeded by remittances sent by Somalis in the diaspora, which have helped sustain the import level.
  In mid-2010, Somalia's business community also pledged to invest $1 billion in the national economy industries over the following five years. Abdullahi Hussein, the director of the just-formed Trans-National Industrial Electricity and Gas Company, predicted that the investment strategy would create 100,000 jobs. The new firm was established through the merger of five Somali companies from the trade, finance, security and telecommunications sectors. The second phase of the project, which began in mid-to-late 2011, saw the construction of factories in specially designated economic zones for the farming, livestock, fishing and mining industries.
  In 2014, local farmers completed a program enabling them to begin selling for the first time high quality grain to the UN's WFP. Under the initiative, the cultivators received training from FAO and WFP experts on grading their grain, post-harvest handling, and warehouse and storage management. The aim was to strengthen the farmers' knowledge base and production capacity to meet international supply standards. By March of the year, cultivators from south-central Somalia had through the program sold 200 metric tons of high quality maize grain. According to Minister of Agriculture Abdi Ahmed Mohamed, the government is working to further rehabilitate the farming sector through both agricultural production and stabilization efforts. Farmers ultimately aim to move beyond local distribution and become a major grain supplier for the broader region.
  In March 2014, the Somali Producers' Conference and Exhibition (SOPEC) was held at Dubai's World Trade Center as part of an initiative by the federal government to promote Somali products from the farming, livestock and fisheries sectors in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf state markets. In May of the year, commercial farmers also resumed banana exports to the Arabian peninsula. Additionally, they began exploring newer markets for their agricultural products in Kuwait and Dubai.
  In December 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it would commence a new water management project on the Shabelle River in 2015 in order to assist small scale cultivators. The initiative will in part see additional water channels dug so as to more effectively control river flows on farms.
caption: A maize field in the south.
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