Grand Bassa County – Farmers in Grand Bassa County under the umbrella Fair Labour Farmer Union in District #2 Zuezohn Clan, Grand Bassa County are calling on the Government of Liberia and other international partners to come to their aid as they are struggling over sixty acres of farmland to plant rice.
The farmers said they were able to generate LD$200, 000 on their own through the help of the community dwellers and other well-meaning Liberians in the area.
The lack of logistical and infrastructural support in every sector of life is weeding up every sector in the society.
Recently the rubber farmers of Maryland County complained that the lack of customers and buyers for their harvested rubber is hampering their livelihood.
The farmers told the FPA in Grand Bassa County that they are currently indebted to individuals institutions in the tone of L$85,000.
The Farmer’s Union, which consists of over 72 farmers, is calling on the government to also help with the construction of farm-to-market roads.
“We want our government to help us develop our roads to make it easier to transfer our produce from our farms,” Moses Diggs, Secretary General of the Union of Grand Bassa County noted. “At least when we have good roads it will help us to be effective in our farming works,” he added.
Diggs said the Union has been in existence for a year but had not received any support from the government since its establishment.
In need of assistance
He is however calling on local and international partners to come to their aid by introducing a modern farming method that will help the entire Bassa region.
Diggs said they walked two hours every day to get to the market to carry their goods and two hours back to their farms due to bad roads that are inaccessible to car.
He said if the bridge linking the farm to their market is constructed, it would be very helpful to them because it would make it possible for cars to enter their farms to bring their goods out.
“In that case, we will be able to transport our goods to the market through cars or motorbikes but for now the road and bridge are in deplorable condition making our work very difficult for us,” he noted. He said he was still using old cutlasses used by several generations of famers in the past.
“Since forefathers were farming with their old cutlasses they used, it is the same old materials we are using. We need people to come to our aid and help us with working materials because we have old cutlasses that we are using and for the kind of work we do, they are very hard. We need real machines to help us work faster, 72 men cannot work on 60 acres of land without machines,” he further noted.
For his part, the head of the Fair Labour farmer Union Alexander Goaye said the union had a plan of making other things on the farm like coco, oil palm and also to take care of their goats, sheep and other animals on their farms.
He noted that they also needed a kitchen where they will be able to keep their rice whenever it was harvested and also keep their tools and other materials.
Diggs said when their rice was harvested and done with their work on their farms they normally walk one hour to reach to the next town on the hill, where they keep their materials.
According to him, October starts a new farming season and up to present farmers do not have anyone to help them.
“We really need help from outsiders that will help develop this sector, we are calling on all Liberians to also get in the process,” he noted.
He said if they were empowered they would be able to produce more products and send it to the Liberian market and they would also be able to export food.