Farmer Cooperatives supported by the government-funded Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP), implemented, and managed by UNDP, are excited about engaging in commercial swamp rice and cassava production/cultivation.

During a one-week intensive joint monitoring mission, UNDP led a team from the Ministries of Finance and Development Planning, Agriculture, and Internal Affairs to engage farmers on progress made thus far with support from the project.

“We now know the value of swamp rice production and assure you that in the next few months, this cooperative will be ready to feed Nimba County," said the Dokodan Farmers’ Cooperative Leadership in Gbedin.

The Chairperson and Secretary-General Norhn Wilson and William Larpeh said the cooperative initially certificated by the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) with its governance structure in place had been dormant for over seven years until the ACDP launched in 2022, encouraged them to get back on board.

“Since the reactivation of the cooperative and with the logistical, financial, and capacity-building support provided by the ACDP, our farmers have been busy in the swamps cultivating low-land rice,” said Madam Norhn and Mr. Larpeh.

The ACDP is supporting start-ups of over 50 farmers formed into fourteen cooperatives selected from Bomi, Gbarpolu, Nimba, Rivercess, Lofa, and Bong to take steps toward reducing poverty through agriculture, and other socioeconomic activities. The aim is to help them embrace mechanized farming moving away from subsistence farming.

In Rivercess County, the Tompoe Agricultural Development Cooperative leadership in Tompoe Village in Yarpah District was ecstatic about the support provided by the project.

“For us in this County, this is the first time in our history that we have had such initiative. We are standing by to provide more land for our swamp rice cultivation and any other activity that benefits the people of this County,” said Elder Brown and the Chairman of the cooperative David Gbateah.

The ACDP implemented and managed by UNDP Liberia also plans to construct regional agricultural hubs in strategic locations. These hubs will contain processing and storage facilities and offices; however, they require land to execute the plan. 

In moving this forward, the county leadership of Gbarpolu County headed by its Superintendent Sam Zinnah, provided 2.5 acres of land where the MOA is situated, for the construction of one of the agricultural hubs. Discussions with other county leaderships are ongoing to secure land areas for this purpose.

“Liberia spends millions of dollars importing rice and other local crops when we have the land and vegetation to feed ourselves,” said Superintendent Zinnah when he turned over an official document for the 2.5 acres.

Superintendent Zinnah stressed that Liberia can create the wealth needed for its people to improve their livelihoods, but it requires an “All Hands-on Deck” approach.

He praised UNDP and its partners for their support and committed the county leadership to ensuring the success of the ACDP. 

The cooperatives supported by the project are steadily progressing in swamp rice and cassava cultivation. They lauded the government, UNDP, and its partners for supporting them and have pledged to expand their farms beyond the targeted areas.

To date, the 14 farmer cooperatives have secured over 500 acres of land spread across the six targeted counties using tools and training provided by the project. The Dokodan Farmer Cooperative in Gbedin Nimba County tops the list with at least 300 acres in use for such purpose.

“Our target land area for the swamp rice cultivation is 410 acres. We can assure you that by the end of the year, we will expand beyond this point,” boasted the leaders of Dokodan.

The joint monitoring by the project assessed the progress of interventions made directly to farmers and communities. 

The team inspected the farms of cooperatives, the construction of offices, the use and storage of state-of-the-art farming equipment, machinery, and tools, and the construction of solar-powered boreholes in designated communities. 

The team also engaged county officials, the leadership of beneficiary communities, and cooperative members to assess and understand the impact of ACDP since its inception and to assess capacity gaps to determine the level of technical support that the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) can provide.

Moreover, engineers from the Ministry of Public Works assessed the farm-to-market roads of the cooperatives, and the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) supported elections for new officials of the farmer groups.

The elected officials participated in a one-week governance and financial management training organized by the CDA to help them function as full-fledged cooperative entities. The training covered leadership skills and qualities, good governance practices, financial management systems, and sustainability. The elected leaders learned to build, manage, and sustain their governance structures.

Leaders from the 14 cooperatives also participated in a two-day boot-camp training workshop on business management and development organized by the UNDP Liberia Cohort IV Growth Accelerator programme. Each Cooperative is expected to receive USD 20,000 to help them scale up their agri-business ventures.

As the joint monitoring mission ended, the team nudged the cooperatives to remain committed and, united in their approach to tackling food insecurity by contributing to the reduction in the importation of rice and other crops that can easily grow in Liberia. They promised to highlight the issues raised by the farmers, which included additional tools, equipment, machinery and increased capacity-building training skills.

Members of the team included Alvin N. Quiqui Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst from the MFDP, Arthur Crawford-MIA, Reginald Goodridge and Victoria Cooper, Technical Coordinator, and Technical Assistant respectively from the MOA, Stanley Kamara National Economist at UNDP and Odaphus Dahn, Project Coordinator of the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) at UNDP.