Subsistence Agriculture in Liberia
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Photo 1 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comMusa Topah is a subsistence farmer. He is one of thousands of like him who survive on what they grow on the land or catch in nearby waterways and bush. -
Photo 2 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comEvery day he and his family, including four grandchildren, make their way from town before dawn to this permanent emcampment where they spend the entire day. -
Photo 3 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comMusa's wife, Yama, works the small rice and cassava fields. -
Photo 4 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comShe is helped by her son, Sei, and her daughter, Yei, both of whom stay with the family in town. Sei's children are expected to help out as well. -
Photo 5 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comDuring the growing season, all of the family's meals are taken here at the encampment. They go home to sleep and to take care of family business in town. -
Photo 6 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThe rice they harvest from their small piece of land is just enough for them to eat. They have no surplus for the market. -
Photo 7 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThe rice field is barely distinguishable from the wild vegetation that it competes with. In subsistence farming, neatly cultivated rows and weeded crops are the exception. The Topah family does all of the cultivation by hand using locally-made tools that have gone unchanged for generations. -
Photo 8 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comCassava, plantain, banana, yams and a few squashes round out the crop selection at this farm. -
Photo 9 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comMost of the vegetables are cultivated in small beds like this one, almost overgrown by nearby weeds. -
Photo 10 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comLike many subsistence farmers, Emmanuel Tokpah is employed. He is the head tapper on a small rubber tree farm. He still has to grow food crops to make ends meet. -
Photo 11 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comDuring the tapping season, he and his wife build a small encampment near the latex storage shed where he can keep an eye on things and be close to the work. They grow almost all their own food on small patches of land near the encampment. -
Photo 12 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comAll of the meals are cooked right there on the spot. This is a yam and cassava stew with coconut milk, covered with banana leaves. -
Photo 13 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThe family grows the food crops on raised mounds just outside their shelters. -
Photo 14 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comYams, bitterball, peppers, cassava, eddoh and rice are the most common crops. There are usually a few banana and plantain trees nearby as well. -
Photo 15 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comTokpah's young daughter plays with one of the black plastic cups used to collect the fresh latex sap as it drips from the rubber trees. -
Photo 16 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comShe also has a toy truck that her father made from coconut shells, sticks, and a scrap of plastic for the windshield. Notice the UN insignia on the hood. It is modeled after one of the many UN peacekeeper vehicles seen all over Liberia since the end of the war. -
Photo 17 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comMany subsistence farmers also trap fish as a way of supplementing their diets. In most cases, this is just for family consumption. This fish trap, made by Emmanuel Tokpah, is typical of those used by subsistence farmers and subsistence fishermen alike. -
Photo 18 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThis man is also part of the subsistence economy except that he is a fisherman. He goes to the river every day before dawn to check his traps and set his lines. -
Photo 19 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThis is his "farm." -
Photo 20 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comOn the days he is lucky enough to catch a surplus, he makes the bridge over the river his market place. This string of fish brought about 250 Liberian Dollars (less than five U.S. dollars). -
Photo 21 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comA walk down this barely visible path leads to another encampment, the site of a subsistence farm that is soon to be part of a larger enterprise. -
Photo 22 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThis is Lincoln Yeneken. He lives in a nearby town with his family and, like many other subsistence farmers, makes his way to his plot of land every day to tend to his crops. Yeneken has enough acreage to produce some surplus for the market but he lacks tools and labor to scale up. For now he grows just enough for his family. -
Photo 23 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThey live here during the day. It is shelter from the elements - mostly the sun. Notice the fish trap near the front right side of the shelter. Like many other subsistence farmers, Yeneken fishes to add meat to his family's diet. -
Photo 24 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comHis wife spends some of her day harvesting mature rice from the tangle of vegetation that is their rice field. She can only harvest a small amount in a day and that has to be dried, hand threshed, and winnowed before it can be stored. -
Photo 25 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comThere is enough rice to last the family just two months. For now it is stored in the open on a raised platform covered by a woven mat. Soon it will be moved to a granary above the family's new home. Weather, rodents, and birds will make quick work of this rice if it is not stored properly. -
Photo 26 of 26Credit: Jim Lee/allAfrica.comIn the future, the family's rice will be stored above their new house, now under construction near where they grow their crops. The upper section, just under the roof, will be the granary. This is the first building of what will eventually become a new village under the leadership of headman Yeneken.
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