The NEWS (Monrovia)
6 May 2008
editorial
Monrovia — One of America's noticeable NGOs, Mercy Corps, is making a case for funding to intervene in the agriculture sector, preferably the production of cash crops such as cocoa.
According to Mercy Corps' country director Tom Ewert , the idea is a "Market-driven agriculture program" that would build capacity, not just at the farming level, but at all points along the market chain, so that the efforts put into farming are actualized in the form of increased income, rather than being lost through inefficient transfers.
Mercy Corps is making such a case against the background that while much emphasis is being placed on rice farming in Liberia, there is also greater potential in cash crops.
Prior to the civil war, Liberia exported significant amount of cocoa to the benefit of rural dwellers many of whom produced bulk of the cash crops. But like all other sectors, the devastated civil war forced rural dwellers out of their fields in search of safety, leaving their cash crops to rot.
But now that the war has ended, and with the agriculture sector seen as a vital component in helping to revive the economy, especially in elevating the social economic standard of the rural poor, production of cash crops such as cocoa obviously needs all the assistance and support that can be sought.
Farming profitably in cash crops would certainly serve as an attractive source of employment for urban dwellers to move into rural areas, thereby helping to ease the focus on urban areas.
This is why the Mercy Corps' attempts at securing donor support for its new "Market driven agriculture program" which it hopes to have and operate by October is welcomed news.
Although the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is said to have ended its five-year funding for Mercy Corps' projects in Liberia in 2007, one can only hope that USAID would in the near future consider funding Mercy Corps' agriculture programs in Liberia.
And although it is understandable that USAID is now focusing on large scale programs like security, electricity and big infrastructure projects through contractors, rather than working through NGOs like Mercy Corps, the training of farmers to cultivate cash crops and to help with market access can equally be shaped into large scale programs for processing and export purposes.
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