Tuesday July 5, 2022
By Anita Anyango
Farmers in Somalia are set to access reliable new machinery, as well as service and parts support from CASE IH. This follows a trailblazing import and distribution agreement inked between CNH Industrial with Gaalooge Farming & Livestock Cooperative.
The Gaalooge-Case IH partnership was initiated at the Italy-Somalia Business Forum in Mogadishu in December 2019 where negotiations were supported by teams of experts from the Enterprise Development Units in Somalia and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Somalia Programme.
Gaalooge, based in Baidoa, Somalia, is registered as a cooperative under the local Ministries of Commerce and Agriculture. Owned by a group of Somali farmers, it is a dedicated agro-business enterprise actively involved in the production and distribution of a variety of agricultural inputs and farm machinery throughout the country.
Economic growth
“The new partnership enables, for the first time in recent history, the supply of new agricultural machinery to Somalia. Case IH, a brand of CNH Industrial, with its distinctive red livery and world famous reputation for reliability, is the brand of farm machinery that Somali farmers will employ on their farms. Case IH tractors and equipment, including combine harvesters, are held in high regard throughout Africa, with proven performance in the toughest conditions” said Adam Mohamed, Gaalooge’s CEO.
Somalia has considerable productive resources, which offer huge potential for delivering rapid economic growth, with important impacts on people’s livelihoods. These resources include 8.5 million hectares of arable land, more than 50 million livestock and about 1.8 million tons of fish annually for export. However, only 2.3 million hectares are under rain fed agriculture plus another 630,000 hectares under irrigation.
With the agricultural sector renowned for being one of the best drivers to improve livelihoods and to take national economies forward quickly and effectively, this new partnership represents a key step in rebuilding the country of Somalia.