Challenges Facing Agribusiness Sector in Lower Shawele Region, Somalia

Abstract

Agribusiness is a big industry in Somalia country in rural and urban towns. It has been a challenge to manage this profitable business and the risks surrounding this field made it inefficient and non-profitable. This study focuses on agribusiness challenges including infrastructure gaps, financial constraints, humanitarian gabs, security patterns and the absence of government roles. The study employed and interviewed agricultural experts and small farmers and conducted observations in agricultural lands in the Lower Shebelle region. Agricultural experts who were interviewed addressed the problems faced by agro-business persons, including infrastructure gaps such as rough roads, non-functional irrigation systems, insecurity, floods, and labour force migrations that were specific negative impacts on the local communities. The harvested crops especially cash crops, perish during the wet seasons on the farm because of the inaccessibility of roads, which causes a delay in lead time and high transportation costs that result in exit farming to the urban lifestyle. The labour supply from rural households had decreased due to unemployment, insecurity, and land disputes between the domain clans and the local people resulting in clan conflicts in the region. These difficulties have been experienced for the last two decades, which impacted the decline of agri-businesses and agricultural productions, and escalated labour force migrations to the major cities also fuelled the displacements to urban towns. In addition to that, the Al-Shabaab, clan militias, and other unidentified persons imposed illegal double taxations levied on products that increased costs of production and finally caused high price margins and a decline in production capacity.