Monrovia — The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has assured sector actors of its commitment to promoting high developmental impact through projects with commercial viability that leverage investments along agricultural value chains.
Through the Liberia Agriculture Commercialization Find (LACF), the MoA has provided matching grant support to address financing and technical assistance challenges faced by smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, farmer cooperatives, and financial institutions.
An MoA press release issued Wednesday, 19 June 2024 says the LACF is embedded in Component II of both the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization Project (STAR-P) and the Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP).
The LACF was established by the Government of Liberia, with funding support from the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Based on the listed criteria, the Fund is meant to promote agribusinesses and smallholder-farmer linkages along prioritized agricultural value chains.
The criteria include demonstrating an impact on farmers' income, competitiveness, job creation for women, youth, and persons living with disabilities, and bankability.
Both projects aim to increase agricultural productivity and commercialization of smallholder farmers for selected value chains in the country and create market linkages.
The projects seek to achieve this objective by facilitating private sector investment in selected value chains to promote productive linkages between smallholder farmers and agribusiness firms.
The LACF is expected to directly benefit 41,500 smallholder farmers with significant emphasis on women, youth, and persons with disabilities through some interventions.
The interventions include ensuring that at least 30 percent of the beneficiaries selected for the fund and matching grants are women and 30 percent youth producer organizations.
They also require ensuring gender disaggregation with key performance indicators to promote high women's and youth inclusion in the subprojects financed.
They target smallholder farmers, cooperatives & farmer-based organizations, agribusiness SMEs, and farmer-based organizations in aggregations and financial institutions.
To date, the MoA said, the LACF has provided over US$15 million as matching grants to beneficiaries of STAR-P and RETRAP.
These grants have enhanced productivity and competitiveness and created sustainable jobs for women and youth along prioritized financed value chains.
"The success stories of these smallholder farmers, who have overcome challenges and achieved significant growth, are a testament to the transformative power of the LACF," the release said.
As part of the ministry's commitment to supporting the agricultural sector in a way that is aligned with the national government's agenda, the LACF is currently undertaking the following activities to enhance the sector's commercialization.
The LACF continues to disburse funds to existing grantees to ensure financial resources reach grantees and promote the development and commercialization of the agricultural sector.
The Fund Manager (FM) continues to educate grantees on the effective use of funds effectively.
The FM is presently conducting training for County Focal Persons and the Monitoring and Evaluation teams of STAR-P and RETRAP to scrutinize and support grantees to develop and upload periodic reporting requirements & indicators as required by the project.
The LACF is embarking on grantees' field evaluation exercises to authenticate and verify the effective use of grant funds, ensuring accountability and transparency and minimizing exposure to project objectives.
While the LACF continues disbursing and providing support to existing grantees, the FM is currently preparing for the next Fund Advisory Committee (FAC) Sitting, the high-level meeting that reviews and decides on qualified applicants who have completed the grant application processes, passed the due diligence stage, and are recommended for grant approval by the Independent Investment Committee (IIC).
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Following the Fund Advisory Committee meeting, the FM will organize orientation sessions to guide successful applicants on the grant award & redemption processes, utilization, and reporting requirements.
The FM is still receiving business plans from the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) to facilitate application processing and due diligence for review by the Independent Investment Committee.
The LACF remains fully operational and dedicated to fostering productive growth to promote the commercialization of the country's agriculture sector.
The Ministry of Agriculture assures the public of its utmost commitment to partnering with key value chain actors to develop the industry for food security and sustainable job creation.
