Liberia's new Minister of Agriculture, Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah, has officially taken over the office of the Ministry of Agriculture calling for a systems audit of the Ministry.
Dr. Nuetah mentioned that an immediate audit on the Ministry will ensure work efficiency to make the ministry fulfill its mandate.
He also said that he will ensure policy enhancements and to make sure that farmers are supported to increase productivity.
According to Minister Nuetah, those who worked for the Ministry must be qualified and possess the requisite experience to serve in the various positions.
"We want to be able to ensure that those who are at the Ministry of Agriculture are technicians prepared to discharge the mandate given this ministry by the law that created it. That audit will tell me who is who and where you are. We cannot have the Ministry of Agriculture that should be more technical than non-essential staffs.," he said.
He spoke on Wednesday, February 14, 2024 at the EJS Ministerial Complex in Congo Town -- his first official day at the Ministry.
The minister said that though he is aware that the Ministry's mandate is not to make farms, it is there to ensure the enabling environment.
"I know we are not supposed to be in production as an institution but I equally know that our activities can strengthen production in this sector. So we have come back to ensure that productivity in the agriculture sector is realized, which is the dream of his Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai," he said.
He said he will make sure that the donor-funded projects of the Ministry at the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) report to the Ministry.
"I don't intend to see a Project Management Unit stronger than the Ministry. We want to make sure that the Ministry itself will become the driver of everything," he said.
Minister Nuetah, a former World Bank Consultant recently confirmed by the Senate, succeeds former Minister Jeanine M. Cooper, who served for the last four years under the administration of former President George M. Weah.
He is taking over at a time the sector is experiencing some level of transformation and at a time the nation's new leader, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, has pronounced agriculture as a key priority for his government.
Minister Nuetah said that he has come with the vision of strengthening capacity at the Ministry of Agriculture and in the lives of farmers and agribusinesses.
He acknowledged the contribution of his processor and promised to build on the gains made.
"I want to thank the outgoing minister for the great job she has done over the past few years. I see her marks around, so we have only come to reinforce what she started and do it even better," he said.
He said the ARREST (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism) agenda is the foundation of the developmental agenda for the new government.
"Under the ARREST agenda, agriculture comes as number one, which means that we at the Ministry of Agriculture have the responsibility to make it work," he explained.
According to him, if his Ministry cannot realize the ARREST agenda, it means that Liberia will not be able to realize the growth and development.
He said that the Ministry is still experiencing a huge capacity gap.
"For the past few days, I have been having conversations with some of the colleagues here and I realize that there is a huge capacity gap. I have seen the human resource capacity. I am not sure that the Ministry of Agriculture is supposed to have 60% of its employees in administration," he stated.
Minister Nuetah said that there is a need for the government to improve on extension.
"From my conversation with the extension people, I realize there is a huge gap in extension. Out of the hundreds of people, they told me that there are only 43 extension workers. That's not good news because, for agriculture to perform, there must be an extension that is effective and efficient," he explained.
He promised to ensure that the Department of Extension is strengthened to drive changes in the sector.
"This is the age of technology. We want to be able to have a technical department that is able to transmit appropriate knowledge of modern technologies, new and improved seed varieties to increase the productivity of our farmers," he said.
"We want to make sure that the planning and technical departments have the right capacity to drive our vision of this sector," he added.
He said that money attracted by the government for agriculture must be used to benefit the country.
"Whatever resources that will be sent to us by donors, whether it is grant or loan, we must appropriately utilize it. If it is a loan, we will pay for it as a country," he said.
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According to him, his administration doesn't want to see a situation where money borrowed for agriculture does not show impact.
"I'm going to be more involved with the implementation. One of the first things we will do as the Policy and Plan Department is to review all of our existing policies in the sector and see where there are gaps. We are not going to jump into policy formulation," he explained.
The Minister also mentioned that there are plans to support the entire agricultural value chain.
The Minister promised to ensure some prudent financial management policy.
"We know that there are challenges with our financial management practices; we will ensure that every dollar that you receive as a staff, you work for it," he said.
According to the minister, before the end of the next five years, Liberia should be able to produce not less than fifty percent of its staple rice.
"We want to be able to have some large commercial farms that will be able to produce what we eat here in large quantities so that we can reduce our import," he said.
