Innovii Digital Service
A jerry can of tomatoes in Bakaaro cost $12 on 4 August
and $4 on 12 August.
The same jerry can in Baidoa never left $2–3.
The two-week read
Prices this period
First and latest observation, plus the full range inside the period. Never a period average — a fortnightly mean would have erased the Afgooye harvest drop entirely.
| Crop | Measure | First | Latest | Change | Range in period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maize (Galeey), white | Loor | 55.00 | 50.00 | ▼ -9.1% | 50.00 - 65.00 |
| Sorghum (Moordi), red | Loor | 32.00 | 26.00 | ▼ -18.8% | 26.00 - 35.00 |
| Cowpea (Digir) | Koombo | 0.60 | 0.75 | ▲ +25.0% | 0.60 - 0.75 |
| Wheat (Qamadi) | Koombo | 0.60 | 0.60 | ● no change | 0.60 - 0.75 |
| Sesame (Sisin) | kg | 1.30 | 1.50 | ▲ +15.4% | 1.30 - 1.60 |
| Mung bean (Salbuko) | Koombo | 1.00 | 0.50 | ▼ -50.0% | 0.50 - 1.60 |
| Crop | Measure | First | Latest | Change | Range in period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato (Yaanyo) | Jirgaan | 5.00 | 4.00 | ▼ -20.0% | 3.50 - 12.00 |
| Lemon (Liin) | Loor | 7.25 | 15.00 | ▲ +106.9% | 6.50 - 15.00 |
| Bottle gourd (Bocor) | Loor | 6.00 | 12.00 | ▲ +100.0% | 4.00 - 12.50 |
| Carrot (Karooto) | Xirmo bac | 2.25 | 1.13 | ▼ -50.0% | 0.75 - 4.00 |
| Salad (Ansalaato) | Xirmo bac | 2.75 | 2.75 | ● no change | 2.50 - 3.00 |
| Spinach (Koosto) | Xirmo bac | 3.50 | 1.25 | ▼ -64.3% | 1.00 - 4.00 |
| Onion (Basal), red | kg | 0.75 | 0.75 | ● no change | 0.75 - 1.50 |
| Potato (Baradho) | kg | 0.50 | 0.75 | ▲ +50.0% | 0.50 - 1.00 |
| Watermelon (Qare) | piece | 4.00 | 4.00 | ● no change | 3.00 - 7.00 |
| Banana (Moos), local | piece | 0.10 | 0.08 | ▼ -20.0% | 0.08 - 0.10 |
| Crop | Measure | First | Latest | Change | Range in period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maize (Galeey), white | Loor | 18.00 | 36.00 | ▲ +100.0% | 18.00 - 36.00 |
| Sorghum (Moordi), red | Loor | 14.40 | 18.00 | ▲ +25.0% | 14.40 - 18.00 |
| Cowpea (Digir) | Koombo | 0.75 | 0.80 | ▲ +6.7% | 0.75 - 0.90 |
| Mung bean (Salbuko) | Koombo | 0.80 | 1.00 | ▲ +25.0% | 0.80 - 1.00 |
| Wheat (Qamadi) | Koombo | 1.00 | 0.95 | ▼ -5.0% | 0.95 - 1.00 |
| Sesame (Sisin) | kg | 2.00 | 2.00 | new | 2.00 (from 8 Aug) |
| Tomato (Yaanyo) | Jirgaan | 2.75 | 2.00 | ▼ -27.3% | 2.00 - 3.00 |
| Lemon (Liin) | Loor | 15.00 | 37.50 | ▲ +150.0% | 15.00 - 40.00 |
| Bottle gourd (Bocor) | Loor | 6.00 | 11.00 | ▲ +83.3% | 6.00 - 12.50 |
| Carrot (Karooto) | Xirmo bac | 3.00 | 1.25 | ▼ -58.3% | 1.25 - 3.50 |
| Salad (Ansalaato) | Xirmo bac | 0.70 | 1.25 | ▲ +78.6% | 0.50 - 1.25 |
| Spinach (Koosto) | Xirmo bac | 0.90 | 1.00 | ▲ +11.1% | 0.90 - 1.01 |
| Onion (Basal), red | kg | 0.50 | 0.80 | ▲ +60.0% | 0.50 - 1.00 |
| Potato (Baradho) | kg | 1.00 | 1.00 | ● no change | 0.50 - 1.00 |
All prices US$ in the measure shown, as recorded on the M-tacab platform. ▲ price rose, ▼ price fell — whether that is good news depends on whether you are selling or buying, so we do not colour it. Where the recorder gave a low–high range, First and Latest use the midpoint and Range uses the outer bounds.
The tomato line
Two markets, one crop, the same container, completely different lives
Both markets quote tomatoes in the same object — the 20-litre jerry can — so the two lines below compare directly. Bakaaro ran from $5.00 up to $12.00 and back down to $4.00 inside twelve days. Baidoa moved between $2.00 and $3.00 and stayed there.
Swipe sideways to see the rest →Daily price per Jirgaan, US$. Bakaaro 1–12 August, Baidoa 5–13 August. Where the recorder gave a range, the midpoint is plotted; the 4–5 August peak is shown at the top of the quoted range ($12), as in the print edition. Portal item name: Cherry Tomato.
Why this matters to a farmer, not a trader
A tomato grower cannot wait out a falling price. FAO puts the shelf life of a ripe tomato at two to six days, and there is no cold chain between Afgooye and Bakaaro. When the price falls by two thirds in a week, the crop still has to move. The farmer is a forced seller by the biology of the crop and the physics of the container it travels in — which is the subject of this issue's feature story below.
Between markets
What the same measure buys, market by market
Baidoa sits in Bay region, a production zone; Bakaaro and Afgooye serve Mogadishu, a consumption corridor. The tables below put the same measure side by side in each pair of markets.
| Crop | Measure | Bakaaro | Baidoa | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato (Yaanyo) | per Jirgaan | 4.00 | 2.00 | Bakaaro 2.0x |
| Lemon (Liin) | per Loor | 15.00 | 37.50 | Baidoa 2.5x |
| Bottle gourd (Bocor) | per Loor | 12.00 | 11.00 | close |
| Salad (Ansalaato) | per Xirmo bac | 2.75 | 1.25 | Bakaaro 2.2x |
| Spinach (Koosto) | per Xirmo bac | 1.25 | 1.00 | Bakaaro 1.3x |
| Carrot (Karooto) | per Xirmo bac | 1.13 | 1.25 | close |
| Onion (Basal), red | per kg | 0.75 | 0.80 | close |
| Potato (Baradho) | per kg | 0.75 | 1.00 | Baidoa 1.3x |
| Crop | Measure | Afgooye | Baidoa | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maize (Galeey) | per Loor | 50.00 | 36.00 | Afgooye 1.4x |
| Sorghum (Moordi) | per Loor | 26.00 | 18.00 | Afgooye 1.4x |
| Cowpea (Digir) | per Koombo | 0.75 | 0.80 | close |
| Wheat (Qamadi) | per Koombo | 0.60 | 0.95 | Baidoa 1.6x |
| Mung bean (Salbuko) | per Koombo | 0.50 | 1.00 | Baidoa 2.0x |
| Sesame (Sisin) | per kg | 1.50 | 2.00 | Baidoa 1.3x |
How to read the spreads
Sack cereals — maize and sorghum by the Loor — are about 1.4× dearer in Afgooye than in Baidoa, the classic gap between a producing region and the corridor that feeds Mogadishu. Fresh produce mostly runs the other way: a jerry can of tomatoes and a Xirmo bac of salad each cost roughly twice as much in Bakaaro as in Baidoa. Sesame is the exception among cereals and oilseeds — dearer in Baidoa, where it moves toward aggregation for export rather than toward the capital's kitchens. Lemon is this fortnight's outlier: Baidoa jumped to 2.5× Bakaaro after both markets moved sharply on 9 August.
A note on last year
The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation's weekly bulletin for August 2025 recorded a production-to-consumption spread in maize of roughly 2.2× between Baidoa and Mogadishu. The direction and rough scale of the spread in this issue is consistent with the Ministry's own series a year earlier.
Where we are in the season
The Gu harvest showed up in the Afgooye price on 12 August
Our Afgooye trader wrote the reason directly onto the sheet: “it's Fasal season arrived, Gu season — meaning it's harvest time.” That day a Loor of white maize dropped from $63 to $50. Red sorghum fell from $35 on 4 August to $26 by the 12th, a 26% fall across the fortnight.
Swipe sideways to see the rest →A seasonal calendar is only useful if it predicts something. This is the first issue in which we can check one against our own measurements — and the Gu harvest arrived inside the window.
What to do with this, if you farm
- Cereal growers: the main Gu harvest is landing and prices normally fall through it. If you can store safely, storing is usually worth more than selling into the arrival week.
- Cereal buyers: this is the cheapest window of the cereal year. Baidoa sorghum at $14.40 a Loor was the lowest cereal price we recorded anywhere this fortnight.
- Tomato growers: you have no storage option. Your only lever is what happens to the crop between your field and the stall. See the feature below.
Based on price observation only. Not agronomic advice; not reviewed by an agronomist.
The measures
A short guide to how Somali markets count
Somali produce markets trade in a family of traditional measures, and every price in this bulletin is quoted in them. The register below is how the M-tacab platform holds each one.
| Measure | Basis | Holds | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loor | Weight | 72 kg | Sack — cereals, onions, lemon, bottle gourd. 72 kg is the common Baidoa sack; 75 kg and 130 kg sacks are also used in Afgooye and Bakaaro |
| Koombo | Weight | 1 kg | Cup — grain and pulses at retail |
| Jirgaan | Weight | 12 kg | 20-litre jerry can — tomatoes |
| Xirmo bac (Maas) | Weight | 1 kg | Bagged bundle — salad, spinach, carrot |
| Maas | Weight | 0.5 kg | Basket bundle — leafy vegetables |
| Sakeel / Baaldi | Weight | 7.5 kg | Bucket — bell pepper, chilli |
| Butacow | Weight | 0.25 kg | Small cup measure |
These measures are not a quirk to be converted away — they are how the market itself thinks. A trader quotes a Loor of maize, a farmer budgets in Koombo, and a tomato wholesaler's whole day is priced in jerry cans. Publishing prices in the same measures keeps the bulletin readable to the people who set them.
In September, M-tacab is running a field measurement study across all three markets — weighing each measure crop by crop, with repeated samples from different traders — so that every price series can also be published with a verified kilogram equivalent from October onward.
Coming in September
The measurement study: every container weighed in Afgooye, Bakaaro and Baidoa, plus trader interviews on where each measure comes from — the story of the Loor, told properly, in a future issue.
The value chain — Issue 01 feature · pages 7–9
The connection to the price tables
This is not a separate essay. The container in this story is the Jirgaan — the measure every tomato price in this bulletin is quoted in. It is simultaneously the reason tomatoes spoil between Afgooye and Bakaaro, the reason a grower cannot wait out a falling price, and one of the seven measures whose true weight we cannot yet confirm. One object, three problems.
How we measure
Method
In this first phase, prices are reported daily by our partner stall owners and market traders in each market — the people actually selling — recording the asking price in the measure the market quotes, and entered into the M-tacab platform the same day. This issue draws on 326 price records covering 1–13 August 2026.
The bulletin reports the first and latest observation of each period with the full in-period range — never period averages, which smooth away exactly the movements a farmer needs to see.
Coverage
Afgooye — cereals and pulses, daily · Bakaaro — vegetables and fruit, daily · Baidoa — both sections, daily from 5 August. Sesame was out of stock in Baidoa until 8 August and is recorded as such rather than omitted.
September
The measurement study: every traditional measure weighed in all three markets, with repeated samples across traders, plus interviews on the history and use of each measure. Verified weights then join the platform's measure register.
October
The price service opens to subscribers over SMS and USSD (*141*6#), built on the same daily collection behind this bulletin — prices in the measures farmers already use, with kilogram equivalents from the verified register.
Sources. Prices: M-tacab daily market price collection, Afgooye (Suuqa Badarka Afgooye), Bakaaro market (Mogadishu) and Baidoa city market, 1–13 August 2026, as held on the M-tacab platform. Comparison series: Federal Government of Somalia, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Department of Agribusiness, Sicirka Suuqa ee Dalaga Beeraha, July–August 2025. Feature story sources as credited in the story pages.
Caveats. All prices are asking prices in US dollars, quoted in the local measure as recorded. This bulletin contains no agronomic, chemical or veterinary recommendations. Somali localisation required before farmer-facing distribution.
M-tacab is a Somali-led digital agricultural advisory platform operated by Innovii Digital Service, Mogadishu. mtacab.so · info@mtacab.so · USSD *141*6# · Next issue: 28 August 2026