Through the STAR-P grant, processing machines and factories, tractors, generators, and other farming equipment were made available to local farmers and cooperatives where needed.
Oil palm farmers in selected counties have hailed Liberia's Ministry of Agriculture's (MoA's) intervention in securing the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization Project (STAR-P) grant, improving their production.
Through the STAR-P project and the Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP), value chains of rice, oil palm, and horticulture (growing plants) receive support to encourage increased agricultural productivity and commercialization.
During field visits in selected counties, including Lofa, Nimba, Bong, Margibi, and Grand Bassa, journalists heard beneficiaries' stories about how the STAR-P grant has addressed the difficulties they faced in cultivating their oil palm farms.
Beneficiaries said that before receiving grants, they produced oil palm in lower quantities with intense labor and more manpower, but they now produce in higher quantities and have more oil in their warehouses awaiting buyers.
The grant made processing machines and factories, tractors, generators, and other farming equipment available where needed to facilitate production and transportation.
Mr. Emmanuel Jah, manager of Barthan's Farm in Lower Bong County, explained that the STAR-P grant has done well for his farm.
Before receiving the STAR-P grant, Mr. Jah said they strained themselves to produce oil palm and sometimes suffered losses in the process.
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After receiving the grant, he saw that oil palm production is easier and has increased.
"We received some equipment; I think you can see some. We received machines that can mill the palm easily for us. We got the boiler ..., we have the steam boiler, we have the storage tank, and we got the thresher," Mr. Jah explained.
At Barthan's Farms, Jah said they couldn't produce a ton per month, but they are now capable of making more than five tons per month.
The farm with 40 employees, 10 of whom are women, said its challenge now is getting buyers for their palm oil.
With more than 500 tins in the warehouse without a buyer, Jah said Barthan's Farms is unable at this point to oil palm from smallholder farmers because the market is not good yet.
"The only thing I want to tell the Ministry of Agriculture, I want to thank them for what they've done for us," said Mr. Jah.
In Margibi County, Mr. David Yeekpah, Manager of the Taingay Farm, explained that they used a freedom mill to produce palm oil at the start of their operation.
He narrated that they used to collect oil palm in bags from the field to the processing site, and it was tedious, so it took 20 persons to get four to five drums of palm seeds.
However, he said the grant has changed all that, saying they now load the palm straight into the thresher which knocks and takes out the palm seeds before it's sent into the boiler.
"So with what we get now ... we no more knocking the palm with cutlass again; we no more picking the seeds with our hands," Mr. Yeekpah explained.
With the machines provided through the STAR-P project, Yeekpah said their production has increased from 15 per day to about 40 per day.
Notwithstanding, Mr. Yeekpah lamented that the oil palm market is not very good due to a lack of buyers. In Taingay Farm's warehouse, Mr. Yeekpah said they have 200 tins, adding that often buyers dictate the price at which they want to buy the oil.
"In Liberia, the only people you can sell oil to are soap [makers]," said Mr. Yeekpah, adding that the highest soap makers would buy is 25 to 30 tin of oil.
He urged the MoA to encourage investors to come and invest in the sector to enable local producers to sell in huge quantities.
Michael W. Pewu i Bong County, chief executive officer of Meni-Nina Farmers, Inc., says there's a good market for oil palm in Liberia and West Africa.
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"In West Africa and Liberia, there's a market available for oil palm. I don't struggle to sell my oil palm for now," said Mr. Pewu.
He said they have been adding value to oil palm, explaining that they use some of the oil for processing soap.
Meni-Nina Farms is involved in three value chains - oil palm, cassava, and rice.
For the oil palm, he said they are cultivating 600 acres of land, over 300 acres of land for cassava and rice.
Through the STAR-P grant of about US$169,000, Pewu said they have constructed a processing facility and are expected to put in their machines. He detailed that the MoA gave Meni-Nina a truck and tricycles, among other things.
Through the STAR-P grant of US$192,000, he said Taingay Farm got a tractor, built a factory, and obtained an oil processing machine, among others.
However, getting chemicals and fertilizers remains a challenge because Mr. Yeekpah said the ones sold locally are expensive.
