By Judoemue M. Kollie
Before the civil war, Liberia had stronger agricultural cooperatives to boost production and marketing, but currently, many vibrant cooperatives ceased to exist causing difficulties for farmers to access resources.
For instance, approximately 500 smallholder farmers majority of whom are women in Zaway and Gohn farming communities located in Garwula District, Grand Cape Mount County food security is said to be affected.
The farmers have attributed the food insecurity situation facing them partly to their inability to work as cooperatives.
They grow rice and other food crops, but are unable to produce enough to send their children to schools and feed their families.
Many Muslims reside in Zaway and Gohn and most of them are married to more than one wives. The polygamous and cultural lives of the people is giving rise to the birth of more children and many of the children are not in schools. Poverty is becoming a serious problem within communities.
Varney S. Kiazolu, age 51, who is a town chief of Zaway said that making a farm is a very struggling experience, but they are now motivated due to the incoming rice project at head.
“We embraced the idea of farming as a cooperative. This is something we have not been able to do. Most times we work as individuals and realise very little yield. But by coming together this year, we expect to grow more food for the communities,” he said.
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According to him, with the help of WoFAL, they have cultivated more than 100 acres of land and are expected to grow rice on it this year. Varney explained that the organization supported them with food and tools to brush the farm.
Kiazolu said that educating his children remains a serious challenge.
“I have so many children who can’t be in school due to the lack of finance. We want the Ministry of Agriculture to work with WoFAL to assist us. We want the government to do more for us,” he said.
Hawa Kawai, a woman farmer, said that women’s food security and nutrition can be strengthened through cooperative farming.
She said that they as women were working with their husbands to make sure the families were fed.
“Our husbands are working and we support them to feed the families. We are grateful to WoFAL for coming to our rescue as life is extremely difficult,” she said.
To address the food security and social problems of the communities, the Working Farmers Agribusiness of Liberia (WoFAL) has partnered with the people of the communities.
WoFAL is a local farming organization that’s registered and operates in the Liberia. The organization has mobilized the farmers to engage into meaningful farming ventures with the aim to work with them to strengthen their food security situation through the provision of inputs and training.
The CEO of the organization, Mr. Samuka Ricker-Kiazolu said that his organization’s overall goals are to support the communities for food security, nutrition and income of local farmers for poverty reduction.
He said as a business entity they are working to engage smallholder farmers into cooperative projects for sustainable production.
According to him, the project intends to reduce the labour burden on women and youths by supporting the communities with mechanization opportunities to increase productivity.
“We intend to serve as a market outlet for smallholder rice farmers in the vicinity so as to improve income generation of the people of the communities,” he added.
The CEO said his project has identified more than 150 acres that is currently being cultivated for improved rice seed varieties and an additional 50 acres is also being earmarked for cultivation.
“Our first target is to support the farmers to produce more rice. We will buy the rice they grow and process it for the market. This is going to give the farmers income to send their children to schools and feed their families,” he explained.
He also mentioned that the project is working with the communities to improve on health care, education and the deplorable road conditions.
“We are not only helping the farmers to produce food, but also intend to help improve on the bad road conditions in the areas. We have made some intervention in the areas of education and health,” he said.
Meanwhile, he revealed that they have applied for a grant under the World Bank project at the Ministry of Agriculture and awaiting approval.
He said the grant, when approved, will address a number of challenges facing the farmers and the communities.
Samuka Ricker-Kiazolu is the founder and CEO of WoFAL. He was born in Liberia but later migrated to the USA as refugee for his college education. After many years, he has made his way back home to work with his people’s group to engage into agriculture and rural development. He is a member of both Minnesota and North Dakota Farmer Unions in the USA
