Exploring investment opportunities for the livestock sector in Somalia
A round table jointly hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ministry of Livestock Forestry and Range (MoLFR), the Federal Government of Somalia, to explore investment opportunities in the livestock sector in Somalia has called for the establishment of a platform for coordination of livestock activities in the country, to be spearheaded by the Ministry. The round table also recommended the development of a livestock master plan in Somalia, a document for guiding public and private sector investments, as has been developed for several other countries. The Ministry also undertook the responsibility to host a high-level livestock investment forum, a matchmaking for investors and livestock investment opportunities.
The round table held on 5 July 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya drew participants from multilateral financial institutions, bilateral investors, UN agencies and regional and continental development organizations. Mohamed Omar, director general of the Ministry, in an overview of the livestock sector in Somalia, highlighted how the sector is a crucial part of Somalia’s economy and a significant source of livelihood for more than 60% of the country’s population:
In Somalia, livestock keeping is a traditional practice with social, economic and political outcomes. Somalia has a large livestock population, with an estimated 7.1M camels, 5.3M cattle, 30.9M goats and 13.6M sheep. Livestock is the backbone of the Somali economy contributing around 80% to the agricultural GDP and 45% to the national GDP.
Furthermore, Somalia's livestock sector has faced many challenges due to climate shocks, disease, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, deforestation and diseases like the 2009 Rift Valley Fever outbreak.
Appolinaire Djikeng, director general of ILRI, urged participants to reflect on and focus on avenues of development investments for the livestock sector in Somalia, stressing the importance of going beyond just identifying challenges to identifying solutions. He commended ILRI and Somalia Government teams for their urgency and strength in implementing the MoU they signed earlier in the year. He pointed out three areas in the MoU for the participants to bear in mind during their deliberations:
- Solutions through research to advance animal health productivity, feed and resilience.
- Building capacity at the country level for impactful interventions that can be strengthened over time, considering that ILRI has been doing capacity building for 50 years.
- Mobilizing resources, which was the aim of the round table, through engaging donors and decision-makers to co-create the future of the livestock sector in Somalia.
Djikeng giving the welcome address (ILRI / Ojanji Wandera)
Djikeng emphasized the importance of national government partnerships towards ILRI's mission, ‘Our organization feels privileged that ILRI and OneCGIAR can align with Somalia's goals. We are a research organization, so the impact we can hope to have can only come from these conversations and government partnerships.’
H.E. Hassan Hussien Mohamed, minister of Livestock Forestry and Range, reaffirmed the Somalia government's partnership with ILRI, reiterating the significance of signing the MoU with ILRI. The MoU opened opportunities and avenues for enhancing the partnership between ILRI and the Somali Government to develop the livestock sector.
The minister highlighted the Government's priorities for the sector. The first priority was animal health, advancing national research facilities and vaccine infrastructure. Second, improving animal feed, rangeland management, and fodder production and storage. To support the growing commercialisation of fodder production in the country, there needs to be investment in feed infrastructure. Third, standardisation to encourage Somali meat production and exportation by establishing a traceability system and reviewing trade policies. The last priority was to improve the capacity of the public and private sectors across livestock value chains. The Ministry hopes to partner with ILRI to develop a livestock master plan that will cover these challenges.
Participants highlighted areas that have lacked investment in the Somalia livestock sector, including camel diseases and medicine, apiculture, poultry, breeding, byproducts, rangeland management, production infrastructure and market access. Overall, investment should increase productivity with feed and animal health and link bundled services across value chains. Cross-cutting challenges include climate change, gender and youth employment.
Some of the solutions proposed to address these challenges included using the existing livestock strategy to develop a livestock master plan, de-risking private sector investment, adopting digital tools to monitor rangelands and raising awareness to encourage youth and diaspora populations to see profitable business opportunities in areas like fodder production and meat exportation.
The round table discussion recommended the following as tangible next steps that will encourage investment in Somalia's livestock sector. Current government policies and donor investment showed existing resources across livestock development in Somalia, but there is no mechanism for all the sectors to collaborate and pool resources. The Ministry agreed to take the lead on establishing a livestock development coordination platform made up of members from development partners, the private sector, and technical personnel for coordination to map current investments and policies and coordinate investment.
Omar shared his commitment towards increased collaboration between the different levels of government and investment partners, ‘We need to identify what resources are available, who has these resources, and who can advocate for fundraising within institutions. My office will communicate bilaterally with the Minister and our partners.’
Iain Wright, deputy director general of Integrated Sciences at ILRI, thanked various stakeholders and partners who participated in the discussion, including the InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), the European Union, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Center for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE).