Monrovia – The Executive Director of the Community of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP), Robert Bimba has described Agriculture as a vibrant sector to Liberia’s food security recovery.
According to Mr. Bimba, the 14 years of war and the Ebola epidemic in the country undermined Liberia’s agriculture development over the past years.
He said the epidemic, which is one of the worst in human history affected all sectors of Liberia including the agriculture sector, thus leaving donors providing funding toward strengthening the sector.
The CHAP’s boss said two US$2 million has been given to Liberia by the Japanese government through the International fund for Agriculture Development IFAD, which led to the collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to design a project that would increase farmer’s income by developing the rice and cassava value chains in Liberia.
He added that the Japanese Rice Grant is title, ‘Economic recovery of Liberian rice Farmers in Ebola affected counties’.
Those counties include Bomi, Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Lofa and Montserrado Counties.
Bimba said the goals of the grant is to empower poor farmers, particularly women at least 60% to overcome the impact of the Ebola crisis and increase their food security and build sustainable agricultureal rice bases and improved their livehood.
The CHAP’s boss is at the same time calling on all farmers within the five affected Ebola Counities and other farmers across the country to help grow more rice that will help feed the Liberian people, and also help to strengthen the agriculture sector of the country.
Mr. Bimba said the Japanese Rice Grant Project is important to Liberian farmers; mostly farmers in the affected counties, saying the project will help bring proud to local farmers.
He however said, The communtiy of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP) been a part of the Japanese Rice Grant has officially launched the Japanese Rice Project in four counties, Bomi, Cape Mount, Grand Bassa and Montserrado with the help of building the capacity of Farmers, linking Farmers to markets and making available seed rice, fertilizers, rain booths and others to Farmers, as Lofa launch is expected shortly.
He noted that the project is working with over 1,800 farmers in the five affected Ebola Counties, thus thanking the Japanese Government and the Ministry of Agriculture for the grant.
The Communtiy of Hope Agriculture Project in its quest to help improve the agriculture sector in the country, is the leader of the system of Rice Intensification in Liberia, the organization has work with lots of local farmers in the country improving their rice growing skills.
For their part, some participants of the launching program thanked the Community of Hope Agriculture Project CHAP, the Japanese Government and the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Agriculture for the empowerment given them.
The participants however, noted that with the empowerment giving them by the Community of Hope Agriculture Project CHAP through the Japanese government and the government of Liberia, they will be able to grow more rice to help fight Liberia’s food insecurity problem.
The Communtiy of Hope Agriculture Project is a non- governmental Organization working with local farmers in the urban and rural communities in Liberia, aiming at providing capacity building for farmers in the agriculture sector in order to prove food security in the country.