Monrovia – Liberia’s agriculture sector is facing many challenges, particularly since the inception of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration with most of the country’s leading food production region, Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Margibi and Gbarpolu Counties declining in providing the needed result for food sufficiency.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – willie.tokpah@frontpageafricaonline.com
To date, the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been strategizing all means in making the country self-sufficient in food productivity, especially its stable food.
Vice President Joseph Boakai has called for more investment and commitment in transforming the agriculture sector of Liberia.
Liberia faces severe triple shock, where unprecedented fall in the global prices of its exports commodities, including iron ore and rubber, coupled with slow economic growth as the result of the deadly Ebola virus and impacts of 14 years of civil war.
The Vice President said transforming the country’s agriculture sector would support government’s quest for increased food security and save over US$200 million spent annually to import food commodities.
Speaking Tuesday at the Agribusiness Exposition aimed at building a food security future in Liberia, Vice President Boakai said an increase agribusiness support was cardinal to the transformation of agriculture in the country aim at repositioning the agriculture sector at the top of the Agenda for Transformation.
“The Liberia Agriculture Transformation Agenda is an innovative initiative that is strongly focused on private sector development and emphasizing several priority commodity value chains that Liberia has for a comparative advantage in transforming the agriculture sector”, Vice President Boakai stated.
The Agenda was launched in 2015 as the result of the Presidential Task Force on Agriculture and Agro-Processing, which the Vice President said, has been an unprecedented collaboration among government ministries, agencies and commissions, the private sector and donor partners, paving the way to a common vision for developing agriculture as business.
The budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector has jumped more a hundredfold from an average of US$3Million over the past few years to the proposed US$9.5 Million in the 2016/2017 fiscal year. And the Vice President considers renewed upward financial support by government to the agriculture sector.
“Rice, cassava, vegetables and goat helped more than 90,000 farmers to increase their productivity, strengthen processing and post-harvest capacity as well as increase incomes, create jobs and build human resources,” Vice President Boakai said. He lauded USAID-supported Food Enterprise Development (FED) for its effort in enhancing Liberia’s agriculture sector with a concentration on four value chains during its past five years of implementation.
Moreover, the Liberia Vice President recognized FED for its sustenance to build rice and cassava processors, established a village savings and loan associations aim at creating opportunity for rural women and attracting international buyers to Liberian commodities amongst other.
VP Boakai, an agriculturist dating years back of his services at the Liberia Produce Marketing Corporation (LPMC) as well as the Ministry of Agriculture said that Liberia has a long way in achieving food security and ensuring equal access to economic opportunity for all Liberians, because it was relying heavily on the extractive industry. “Liberia is facing strong headwinds due to the collapse of the extractive industries,” he said.
He named the rapid urbanization, climate change that is generating more stressful growing conditions, significant unemployment in Africa as well as chronic malnutrition that has left about 40% children in the country stunted as challenges that were impeding the achievement of food security.
“The USAID/FED Agriculture Expo is emphasizing the importance of policy formulation, regulatory environment and legal frameworks, the business enabling environment and access to finance as keys to supporting a robust agriculture sector,” Vice President Boakai added. “Government has and will work with our partners by formulating and supporting policies that enhance local production and investment in the agriculture sector.”
Vice President Boakai further assures government commitment to place more emphasis on designing innovative financing mechanisms for the agriculture sector, a process that will include small and medium sized enterprise, agriculture financing mechanisms and social impact bonds.
The Liberian Vice President said that government was working closely with the African Development Bank and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa to design and set up the Liberia Incentive-Based Risk Sharing Agriculture Lending.
The overall estimated rate of post-harvest losses in Liberia is approximately 35% to 40% and said initiative will accordingly reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen value addition among others.