Powered by IFAD

Geography

Somalia is located on the Horn of Africa in Eastern Africa, and covers an area of 638,000 km2. The country’s borders are on the Gulf of Aden to the north, Djibouti and Ethiopia to the north-west, Kenya to the south-west and the Indian Ocean to the east. It has a population of about 10.4 million that is growing at an average annual rate of 3.2 per cent. Its coastline stretches for over 3,000 km along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Somalia's climate is semi-arid, with two main rainy seasons and irregular rainfall between monsoons. The terrain is mainly flat coastal plain that rises to a high plateau, with hills to the north. The country is subject to recurring droughts and to floods during the rainy seasons.

Somalia was created in 1960 from a former British protectorate and an Italian colony. Islam is the dominant religion. The political, social and commercial life of the country is dominated by the clan system.

After several decades of relative stability, Somalia’s president Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Since then the country has been without an effective central government, in a state of protracted civil war fought between rival warlords. The country has been divided into various areas of influence under clan-based rule. This highly unstable situation has favoured widespread lawlessness.

New political entities have formed in several parts of the country, but have remained too weak to unite the country. The north-western part of Somalia was the first region to declare its independence as Somaliland, and it is the only part of the territory to have enjoyed relative stability since the early 1990s. The north-eastern region of Puntland has also become autonomous. The remaining southern portion of the country is the scene of continuing armed struggles between rival factions. Islamic militias controlled parts of the country during the second half of 2006, but were defeated by government forces backed by Ethiopian troops.

There are many root causes of the present conflict, from struggles between clans to the legacy of poor governance structures, competition for resources and related clashes between pastoralists and agriculturists, as well as ease of access to arms.

Agriculture

Livestock production is the mainstay of the Somali economy, providing the chief source of food and foreign exchange earnings. The major crops are sorghum and maize, and some beans, rice and sesame. Somalia's main exports are livestock, bananas, hides and fish.

Most agricultural and livestock production is in the hands of smallholders. Pastoralists herd their animals throughout the rural areas of Somalia but are found mainly in the arid lands of northern and central Somalia and along the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders. Commercial agriculture is concentrated in the southern regions, especially in the areas adjacent to the Juba and Shabelle rivers.

Since 2000 agricultural production has fluctuated and often declined, as a result of drought and low rainfall in most areas of the country. Poor soils and unreliable rainfall make average yields for rainfed crops among the lowest in Africa.

The conflict and current unstable situation have damaged agricultural productivity. Many farmers have either lost productive assets such as livestock and irrigation equipment, or have been displaced from their land. Production of bananas, once Somalia's second largest export after livestock, has been held back by the civil war and intermittent armed clashes for control of this lucrative export business.

Despite the length of the country's coasts, Somalis are not traditionally a fish-eating people. Somalia has one of the lowest fish consumption rates in the world. The government strongly promoted the fisheries sector in the 1970s, and fish exports increased dramatically as a result. The present lack of regulation is putting these resources at risk, and illegal fishing is becoming a widespread problem. Many areas are over-fished and there is an urgent need for controls. Hundreds of fishing vessels from other nations are fishing illegally off the coast of Somalia, most of them operating without any licensing agreement.

Economy

Despite Somalia’s prolonged instability, economic activity continues where possible, especially where it is localized and therefore relatively protected. Agriculture is the economy's most important sector, and livestock normally accounts for about 40 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and about 65 per cent of export earnings. The economy relies chiefly on the export of live animals, principally to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Other major exports are hides, fish, charcoal and bananas. Intermittent livestock bans imposed by Saudi Arabia since 1998 as a result of disease concerns have severely hampered the sector.

Somalia's important natural resources include marine resources such as fish and salt, forests and forest products such as frankincense and myrrh, rocks and minerals and fossil fuels. The small manufacturing sector is based on the processing of agricultural products.

Remittances are a major contribution to the economy. They have helped support various private sector activities, which have begun to flourish in recent years, and have helped generate employment. According to estimates, about US$800 million is sent back to the country in the form of remittances every year. Remittances benefit the urban population most directly but also trickle down to rural areas.

The current conflict and lack of a rule of law is a major hindrance to trade and investment. At the same time there have been some benefits from the lack of a functioning centralized authority. The national economy now runs almost exclusively on private initiative. The telecommunications, electricity, banking, transport, marketing and to some extent water sectors are all privately organized and quite efficient.

Source: IFAD