By Shire Abdi - Reporter
Somalia, 8 January 2026 Somalia's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has donated $50,000 to 10 companies that won the 2025 Open Innovation Competition for Somali Farmers.
The companies were selected for demonstrating significant progress in agricultural production, business innovation, and the creation of job opportunities.
The Ministry awarded $5,000 to each of the 10 companies that reached the first stage of this program, which will be used to further develop, test, and implement innovative solutions that they have proposed.
The second phase of the project will only proceed with 5 of the companies, and in the final third phase, only one company will remain, as per the Ministry's plan.
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The program is part of projects funded by the Resilience and Livelihoods Recovery Programme (RLRP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and is being implemented by the Center for Agricultural Innovation and Development (CIAD) and the Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Commerce, Investment, and Cooperatives.
The Resilience and Livelihoods Recovery Programme (RLRP) aims to invest more than $6 million to create additional job and business opportunities for the Somali farming community.
The award ceremony, which took place, Wednesday, in Mogadishu, was presided over by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Mr. Asad Abdirashid Mohamed, who emphasized the importance of innovation in boosting the country’s economy and the active participation of Somali people in business and agriculture.
