Agriculture cooperatives is an essential tool for farmers and self-directed association group of people who united to meet their economic and social needs furthermore, it is a main source of income and employment in rural areas. Agriculture cooperatives can improve the life of community groups such as youth and women to share resources and bring value to their products, in addition it covers unavoidable expenditure, reduces operational costs, increases quality of their output and their management skills.
Somalia depends on agriculture production. Agriculture contributes 12% of the GDP of the country; more than 25% of the populations are farmers so it is not only in terms of food needs but also is a source of generating income through crop sells and agricultural labor opportunities. Italians dominated export production of Somalia in the colonization period, but in 1973, the Somali government approved the national law of agricultural cooperatives to enhance the development of small farmers and other communities in Somalia.
The law categorized the cooperative into three parts; multitalented cooperatives, assembly farm cooperatives and productive cooperative. The first cooperatives made in agreement between farmers and government in Gibiley district named by Tacabwadaag and agriculture were increased 10% to 29% in one year. (Spring, 2012).
In 1991 after the downfall of the government, the civil war spread rural areas and many farmers were forced them to immigrate from rural to urban areas while others fled to the neighboring countries and that shifted to decline agricultural production, according to the FOA in 2011 people died for hunger were estimated more than 300,000people. So, this article identifies the opportunities and challenges faced by Somali agricultural cooperatives.
Opportunities of agricultural cooperatives:
Agriculture remains main source of income and employment in Somalia, currently agricultural production represents 93% of the total export, mostly linked to the robust livestock export Sesame is the largest export among crops flowed by dried lemon, in the wake of total collapse of banana exports. it has a land that suitable for farming, So agricultural cooperatives is a best mechanism and opportunity that can increase social welfare, food security of household and self-sufficiently, in addition it facilitates exchange of skills, experience and may improve the productivity of small farmers which enables them to export high quality and cheap products in domestic and international markets .
One of the experiments in 1968 at agricultural research Centre at Afgoi addressed by using new technique, that one farmer produces nearly 6,200 pounds of rice 3.7 acres with no fertilizer because of using new land and concluded that if rice growers use this technique Somalia will reach self- sufficient (Cartle, 2004). Hence, agricultural cooperatives will have opportunity to generate more marginal productivity than one producer will.
Challenges of agricultural cooperatives:
Every business requires finance to purchase assets and working capital, agricultural cooperatives is similar to other business, so that the main challenge that behinds the failure of Somali agricultural cooperatives is there is lack of capital and investment, furthermore there is uncertainty of creditors to invest this kind of cooperatives. The only source that Somali agricultural cooperatives can generate capital is to collect amongst members, and this type of funding is not enough to cover the expenditure.
The last three decades Somalis livestock and crops have affected and on increasingly fragile and degraded natural environment, more frequent severe cycles of drought and floods according to the World Bank report. these factors caused by insecurity ,weak institutions, poor infrastructure, weak human capital and lack of access ready market which leads reducing returns to scale and the use of assets ineffectively which has led a severe decrease in crop yields in the context of the agriculture in Somalia.
The practice of defenestration will predictably affect the nomadic community who solely rely on grazing and cutting the trees and turning them into charcoal to trade and export to Gulf States is a series of challenges that causes erosion of fertile soil, making deforestation one of the current environmental problems that face the agricultural sector.
