Several cassava farmers in five of the fifteen counties of Liberia have reported that they are experiencing some level of productivity in their farming activities.
According to the farmers in the past they were lacking improved planting materials, tools and processing opportunities to supply the local market with cassava products.
But, after being recruited and provided grants under the Ministry of Agriculture World Bank funded Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP) to address their challenges, the beneficiaries in the targeted counties are boasting of some level of transformation.
Recently, Mynah C. Karmo, CEO of STAMAR Karmo Farm in Bomi County, told a team of journalists on an assessment tour in his county that his farm has been facing a serious challenge for over a decade now.
According to Karmo, the MOA's RETRAP matching grant has largely impacted his farm and other farmers to produce more cassava for the market.
"Before, we only produced a little amount of cassava and processing was a serious challenge. However, today, we are not just producing raw cassava tuber, but cassava devarities," he said.
He bragged of overproduction of cassava on his farm when he received the MoA's support through the RETRAP project. "We are now forced to go into minimum processing of fufu and Gari," Karmo said. "The Ministry has done a big job making this place alight today. RETRAP has done a lot of training; that's one thing we got from the RETRAP process."
He further narrated that the training includes maintenance, cash-based management, and human resource management and that it has worked for his farm.
Karmo indicated that he received US$90,017 in cash and materials from RETRAP, including a tractor and other implements for cassava production.
From the support obtained from the MoA RETRAP project, he mentioned that his farm has close to 65 local farmers benefiting from whatever training is intended to expand the cassava sector and increase production.
According to him, they have cultivated about 41 acres of land, while the 65 farmers with whom his group works are cultivating only six acres each.
The RETRAP grant through the Liberia Agriculture Commercialization Fund (LACF), a component of the project, seeks to support farmers and other actors to commercialize in the value chains of cassava, horticulture, oil palm and livestock.
Over the period, farmers and other members of the value chain have received support to encourage increased agricultural productivity and commercialization across project counties.
During field visits in Nimba, Bong, Margibi, Grand Bassa, and Bomi Counties, journalists heard beneficiaries' success stories about the impact of the RETRAP grant which have addressed their challenges to transition from manual labor to mechanized production.
The beneficiaries have received grants to procure processing machines, tractors, generators, and other farming equipment to facilitate production and transportation challenges.
Another beneficiary, Samuel Saye Dokie, Chairs a Farmer Cooperative society in Gbokpah Town, in Nimba County. "With the intervention of RETRAP, the cooperative has been deeply involved in cassava, unlike previous years when it also did vegetables, fish, goats, and ducks, among others," Dokie said.
He added that they are deeply involved in cassava farming because nothing about it is a waste, adding that even its peeling and leaves are useful.
Through a local radio station announcement, Dokie said his cooperative has 25 women and 15 men, and was informed that RETRAP was about to help local farmers.
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"So, we went there as cassava farmers," he explained. "Since we have been with them, RETRAP has been helpful to us. We were farming on five acres. Presently, we are farming on ten acres."
According to him, RETRAP supplied the cooperative with US$5,000 worth of goods, such as farming tools and rain gear. Additionally, he said, they applied for a grant of US$100,000 this year as a cooperative.
Joseph Massaquoi, from Bong also explained that his group had low farming logistics before the MoA's intervention.
From a grant received, he disclosed that they used US$31,000 to purchase a six-ton Kia motor to ease the transport of their produce from the farm to supply various factories.
He also disclosed that more training of farmers was done and, with the grant, they have been able to recruit up to 940 farmers who are now in the training phase. He noted that his group buys cassava from local farmers, helping them avoid losses.
