Monrovia – On his first official trip to the Jewish Republic of Israel, President George Manneh Weah has a glowing opportunity to inject some spark into the gloomy economic outlook back home when he visits “Green 2000” for a presentation on agriculture Tuesday.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
The trip marks a sudden shift to a sector many say has been abandoned by the new administration which has been emphasizing fixes and patch-ups of community roads since it assumed office last January.
Dr. Mogana Flomo, Minister of Agriculture has led the charge in pressing for increased allotment for agriculture in the draft national fiscal budget.
The 2018/2019 fiscal year is US$488.8 million, with US$8.3 million being appropriated for agriculture. This amounts to 1.69% of the total national budget of Liberia, while 62.1%. goes to recurrent expenditures the bulk of which pays for huge salaries and allowances and logistics for top officials.
Weah: Negligible Returns on Agriculture
Minister Flomo has proposed that Liberia’s budget for Agriculture make up 10% of the budget, in order to not just improve the livelihood of the ordinary people in line with the CDC government’s pro-poor agenda but also lay emphasis on the rice value-chain development deemed key to taking some of the burden on government in the wake of the rapid decline in extraction and exportation of minerals from Liberia.
The President, in his Annual Message in January lamented that endless national and foreign resources pumped into agriculture have been enormous, yet returns on these investments are almost negligible.
“This will have to change,” he said. “Just as I am doing with the roads, I will directly get involved in the programs and practical implementation of agriculture development. The sector accounts for more than seventy percent (70%) of household earnings. Therefore, our Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development can only be sustainably achieved through agriculture. We will craft new practical and realistic agriculture policies, incentivize the sector by providing access to credit, reducing tariffs on agriculture implements, and provide small machines, modern seeds and fertilizers.”
In the Jewish state which since the 1950s have been known for developing innovative means of agriculture through drip and micro-irrigation solutions, green cocoons, biological pest control, dairy farming and tailor-made farm solutions, the economically-challenged Liberia could reap some benefits of an innovation that is rapidly spreading worldwide and from a desert-challenged nation that has had results.
The GrainPro Cocoons, for example have been instrumental in Senegal where the Israelis have helped provide a surprisingly simple and cheap way for African and Asian farmers to keep their grain market-fresh.
The innovation has allowed subsistence farmers in developing countries to store their crops in primitive baskets or bags, which are not effective in keeping hungry bugs and micro-contaminants out. The Cocoon solves that problem, even in nations like Liberia prone to extreme heat and humidity.
Green 2000 Offers Window to Explore
At the Green 2000 Agricultural Equipment & Know-How Ltd, the President will get a first-hand engagement from a company which has recent years been successful in planning, setting-up, projects in different spheres such as Greenhouses, Irrigation, Open-field crops, Processing crops, Cut flowers, Poultry and others in many parts of the world, and in Israel.
According to the company’s website, the importance of Green 2000 in Israel lies in the constant contact maintained with research institutes so as always to keep abreast of the best state-of-the-art, and gives the best foundation for the company activities worldwide. “Green Ltd. activity centers primarily on the desert region of the Negev, Arava and Jordan River in Israel, working with the moshavim and kibbutzim (Israeli Private and Collective settlements) by the most advanced agricultural agro-techniques.”
The importance of the company’s lies in the constant contact maintained with research institutes so as always to keep abreast of the best state-of-the-art, and gives the best foundation for the company activities worldwide.
Green Ltd. established over the last 20 years many agricultural projects, all over the world: In the CIS countries, Africa, South-America and Asia. The company represents in Israel several leading companies, selling their products in the Israeli market along with know-how, to bring the best performance to the growers. Products that Green Ltd. imports and sells in Israel: Field-crops seeds, Vegetable seeds, Peat and growing media substrates, Tensiometers and Organic fertilizers.
Green Ltd. is specialized in export of seeds and their adaptation to local climate conditions to any part of the world. Green Ltd. is selling vegetable and Field-crops seeds in many countries, using her brand name: “Green seeds”.
The Liberian Leader, who in his last state of the nation address vowed to increase national attention to agricultural production, will tour organic farms including horticulture, aquaculture, dairy production, poultries and African demo plot.
Besides the Green Ltd visit, the President will also visit the MASHAV Agriculture Training Center where he will be briefed on MASHAV ongoing and prospective activities in Liberia.
MASHAV is the Israeli Agency for International Development Cooperation, which focuses on human capacity building, to empower those living in poverty to improve their own lives. MASHAV, has for years, laid emphasis on agricultural pilot and demonstration projects which serve as a platform for training, extension and research and development. It also works with partner countries to set up support networks for micro-enterprises, small and medium enterprises and agribusinesses. In addition, each year, it also completes a select number of small-scale, turnkey medical infrastructure projects.
Last year, Liberia entered into discussions with Israel which resulted in the sending of a team of aquaculture experts from Israel to Liberia to carry out an assessment and conduct training for selected Fish farmers and technicians from Bong, Montserrado, Bomi and Nimba counties.
The training, targeting the total number of 60 fish farmers and technicians also brought together some 15 fish farmers from Klay Bomi County all intended to introduce new techniques and methods in fish farming and aquaculture to the selected fish farmers and technicians.
Other Meetings Lined up
Besides agriculture, the president and delegation will hold high-level meetings with both political and business leaders towards promoting the pro-poor agenda and extracting meaningful investment opportunities to Liberia, the Executive Mansion said in a statement Monday.
President Weah will later travel to ZRIFIN for technological and innovation exhibition to include land forces solutions and capabilities, maritime solutions and capabilities, intelligence systems and solutions, UAVs and drones, armored vehicles, detections and targeting, radar, border protection, cyber solutions, and internal security solution.
While President Weah tours the Peres’ Center, the President office’s statement said key members of the delegation will hold a roundtable discussion with Israeli’s companies and organizations separately to present investment opportunities and plans while the Israelis’ companies and organizations are also expected to present their companies’ profiles and to possibly express interests for investment in Liberia.
The emphasis on agriculture however, could prove to be the biggest gains from the President’s visit to the Jewish state and follows a trend of renewed interest in the once-dormant sector which saw the President pay a visit to the agriculture ministry recently.
After that meeting the president told journalists that the time was ripe for the government and its partners to find new strategies to improve the sector while stressing the need to put together a technical team that would work from time to time on issues and programs aimed at achieving fruitful results.
The Aftermath of Visit Key
Like most presidential visits, for Liberia’s past and present, the challenge has been the implementation aspect of the aftermath.
Former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, in 2016 paid a historic visit to Israel. She previously visited Israel in 2007 for a conference held by the Israeli Center for International Development during which she said, she had “returned to help strengthen, and rejuvenate the partnership between our two countries, which has existed for many years, going back to Israel’s independence”. That visit however drew ire from Palestine who which has been leading an international campaign to isolate Israel politically for its violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians.
Palestinian journalist and analyst Ramzy Baroud said of Sirleaf’s visit at the time. “Sirleaf is attempting to distract from her record of contributing to the massive corruption and neptunium in her country, by presenting herself as a regional and global leader. She had already and repeatedly broken away from the strong and growing solidarity with Palestinians around the world, and now she is doing it again.”
Politics aside, Israel has previously expressed interest in assisting Liberia in various areas of expertise, including technology, agriculture, security and trade etc, in order to consolidate the bilateral ties that exist between the two countries.
Relations between the two countries dates back to the 1950s when Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir in 1958 established a relationship with Liberia during her tour of Africa between 1956 and 1966. The Israel Embassy was closed down in Liberia in 1988, a year before the country’s civil war that lasted 14 years. Liberia in 1947 cast the deciding vote at the United Nations (UN), leading to the establishment of the State of Israel and the two countries have enjoyed mutual relations over the years since its establishment. The relationship, interrupted by the civil war, was back on track in 2017, with a visit to Liberia of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was invited by then ECOWAS chairperson, outgoing Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, to address the summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).