LIBA launches digital platform to address local farmers’ challenges

The Liberia Business Association (LIBA) in partnership with the Rapid Food Production Initiative (RFPI) over the weekend officially launched the Locality-Sensitive Agriculture Electronic Database (L-SAED) to address the many challenges facing local farmers in terms of accurate data collection.

The platform is intended to serve as a source for all critical data needed for the full implementation of the Liberia Food Production Program (LFPP). The feature also allows real-time tracking of monetary value of all input and output of local farmers across Liberia.

When in full swing, the application will also generate source-by-source basic financial statements and other reports for farmers and post-harvest actors in the agriculture sector of the country.

Speaking during the launching exercise, LIBA president James Strother said the platform is a boost in the quest to tackle food insecurity. 

According to him, the application will go a long way in addressing the many challenges facing farmers in terms of accurate data collection.

“With this application, LIBA and her collaborating implementing partners will be able to determine which farmer, in which locality of Liberia, is cultivating how much land or in what size of facility to produce what types of food,” the LIBA president stated.

He reminded farmers at the event of the significance of the L-SAED platform for the rapid production of food in relation to value-added chain mechanisms among Liberian farmers.

“This is the domestic capacity that needs to be created before we can take control of the national food security situation, in addressing the issue of Liberia’s dependency on food imports,” said Mr. Strother.

Mr. Strother used the occasion to call on local farmers to take advantage of the platform in extending and expanding their production. 

According to him, while the government is making tremendous effort by creating an enabling environment, farmers need to take the challenge of doubling their proceeds beyond the market of Liberia.

He noted that, with the Liberia Food Production Program initiative, LIBA is facilitating and encouraging its members to produce food on a commercial scale.

Giving an overview of the platform, RFPI Executive Director Michael George said the focus of the initiative is to get farmers into cooperatives in outlining their needs to the government and the donor community.

In furtherance, the RFPI Director noted that a key component of the exercise is to see an organized market where farmers will not be farming at the same time selling their products.

“For people to help you, they have to know what you need. So, this data collection will help us know what our farmers [are] lacking. And we are doing this so at the end of the day farmers will only focus on their farming process instead of worrying about selling their goods,” George noted.

He called on farmers to involve themselves in the cooperatives as a means of shifting from subsistence farming to commercial farming.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/liba-pledges-to-uphold-papd/