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Our Mandate

Mandate

The Ministry has been tasked with the duty of promoting agricultural development, which includes creating plans, policies and legislation as well as attracting investments from governments, the private sector and donors. These efforts are essential for ensuring sustainable food systems, reducing poverty and enhancing the living standards of the residents in Puntland.

 

Functions

To accomplish the Ministry’s mandate and implement the strategic plan, the Ministry has the following functions:

Development and Policy

    1. Formulate, implement and monitor agriculture strategies, policies, legislation, and regulations.
    2. Promote sustainable farming practices and crop diversification
    3. Support climate-smart agriculture and technologies
    4. Collect, manage and analyse agricultural data for policy analyses and decision-making
    5. Enforce all legislation, regulations and policies of the conservation and appropriate utilization of agricultural resources.
    6. Establish an enabling policy environment that will encourage, facilitate and promote increased food crops, horticultural date palm production, value addition, and agricultural business opportunities.
    7. Regulate and control the quality of inputs, produce and products from the agri-food systems sector.
    8. Develop a framework for monitoring and inspecting quality assurance and standards.

Food Security, Safety and Nutrition

    1. Enhance food production and hunger alleviation through local farming.
    2. Develop systems for early warning, food storage and market access.
    3. Support nutrition sensitive agriculture.
    4. Collect, maintain and manage information on agriculture and food security issues.
    5. Ensure food safety and quality control standards.

Irrigation Development and Water Management

    1. Plan, construct and rehabilitate irrigation systems.
    2. Promote efficient water use in agriculture (drip irrigation).
    3. Support rainwater harvesting and watershed management.

Research and Extension Services

    1. Conduct agricultural research (seeds, pests, soil health and irrigation).
    2. Provide training, information and technical support to farmers.
    3. Introduce modern farming technologies and tools.
    4. Provide and scale up agricultural research and extension services to small-scale farmers and agro-pastoralists, with a focus on enhancing their knowledge and skills in agricultural enterprise production, marketing and financial management.

Rural Development and Farmer Support

    1. Improve access to inputs (seeds, fertilizers and tools).
    2. Facilitate access to credit and markets for small and medium holder farmers
    3. Strength cooperatives and farmer organizations.
    4. Provide integrated services to farmers and other food producers for the production, conservation and utilization of agricultural resources.
    5. Conduct regularly a field farmer inspection.

Plant Health and Pest Control

    1. Monitor, manage and control pests and diseases in crops and grasslands.
    2. Ensure plant quarantine and quality control for agriculture imports and exports.

Partnership and Coordination

    1. Coordinate agricultural research and innovation intended to enhance agricultural production, protection, value chain enhancement, agro-entrepreneurship, early warning systems, etc.
    2. Solicit collaboration and support from public and private entities as well as international partners to effectively execute agricultural development plans, policies, legislation and programs.
    3. Align with Puntland Development Plans and global development frameworks.
    4. Participate in national, regional and international agricultural conferences; information sharing; and strategies.
    5. Collaborate with other ministries and local governments and NGOs, UN agencies and donor partners.

Guiding Principles

To ensure the achievement of its strategic vision, the ministry is committed to a set of principles and values as outlined below:

    1. Private sector-led and market-based agricultural development. The private sector should be the primary driver of agricultural development, with the government playing a facilitating role.
    2. Government as a facilitator of private sector-led agriculture. The government’s role is to create an enabling environment for private sector investment and innovation in agriculture.
    3. Promotion of agriculture as a business. Agriculture should be viewed as a viable and profitable business opportunity, attracting investment and entrepreneurship.
    4. Accountability and transparency: This approach necessitates the clear and widespread dissemination of all institutional plans and programs encompassing objectives, results and outputs. This dissemination should be extended to all development partners, ministries, stakeholders, local authorities, farmers and communities. Additionally, it entails regularly publishing reports on attaining planned objectives, results and outputs. In the event of failure to achieve certain strategic programs, it is imperative to provide clarification and ensure the right to access information for all parties.
    5. Equality and justice: Development should be a right for all individuals, regardless of clan, gender, age, or political affiliation. Priority should be given to minorities and internally displaced people to ensure equality and justice.
    6. Active participation: Active participation ensures the involvement of all farmers (females and males) and communities in the planning, evaluation and implementation processes of any agricultural intervention.
    7. Sustainability: Our goal is to make agriculture and agricultural development essential for protecting the environment and ensuring the well-being, security, and steadfastness of the people of Puntland while also considering the rights of future generations to sustainability.
    8. There is also high potential to improve crop productivity.