97 farmers threaten to go on hunger strike

About 97 farmers from the Gbedin Dokodan Farmer Corporative in Nimba County are threatening to go on hunger strike due to failure by the Ministry of Agriculture to purchase their products as allegedly promised.

The claims by the farmers are yet to be independently confirmed, but they said the situation has left them without money to send their children to school for this academic year as they have no means of getting finances.

Speaking to The NewDawn Nimba, the development chairperson for the corporative Junior Tokpaquoi said, the Ministry of Agriculture encouraged them to produce more food so that it could purchase them, but it has allegedly reneged on its promise.

Mr. Tokpaquoi said since they produced over 250 tons of seed rice, the ministry is yet to make said purchase from them, so they have no money to send their children to school, thereby creating problem for them.

Our Nimba County correspondent, who visited the Gbedin Dokodan Farmers Corporative Society said huge number of school-going kids are in the camp without being school. The aggrieved farmers, who have threatened to go on hunger strike, said they also lack tools to cultivate larger farms, disclosing that  only few equipment was donated by FED, while the rest were obtained by individual farmers.

The corporative accused the Ministry of Agriculture of abandoning their seed rice and going to neighboring Guinea and other West African Countries to buy seed rice. Gbedin Camp 3 in Nimba has been known over the years for its agricultural activities, but farmers there lack equipment to work with. 

During a recent visit to the county by Vice President Joseph Boakai, citizens raised the same issue with the Liberian leader, but there has been no respond to their plea.

By Franklin Doloquee, Nimba-Editing by Jonathan Browne