18 June 2008
The Liberian government will on tomorrow Thursday June 19, 2008 launch 'Operation Eliminate Hunger" back to the soil campaign at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex.
The move is part of the overall plan by the government of Liberia to increase food production and lessen the dependency on the importation of foodstuffs that are producible on the Liberian soil.
The government believes that the ultimate solution to the continuous food shortage in the country was for Liberians to grow their own food.
In a recent press conference, the Agriculture Minister Dr. Chris Toe informed the nation's about the government's preparedness to create an enabling environment, to encourage potential farmers to engage in large-scale farming that will assure the nation food security.
To this extent, he said the government has made available US$2, 5000 to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to purchase and distribute seed rice to farmers across the country. In addition, the Government has removed tariff and import duties on agriculture equipment and supplies.
Minister Toe said President Sirleaf has made numerous efforts aimed at reaching out to the international community to assist towards ensuring food security in the country.
"The World Food Program (WFP) has already committed US25m, while the German Government is providing 15m Euro to consolidate Government's effort."
This Dr. Toe said when added to the $10m announced by the World Bank will greatly help towards boosting the agriculture program in the country.
He intimated that as part of the concrete steps taken by the government to actualize its vision of growing what it consumes, the government has earmarked $3m for purchasing agriculture seeds, with $3m allocated for a "cash for work," while 44m will go into the various activities of the World Food Program.
"It is against this background that we are urging our citizens to embrace and support the Government's plans towards reinvigorating the agricultural sector and make our nation proud" adding agriculture is life.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
