Monrovia – The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) LibRice and the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday held the fourth and last joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting on improving rice production for the Smallholders Project in Liberia.
By J.H. Webster Clayeh (0886729972)-[email protected]
The “Improving Rice Production for Smallholders Project (JICA-LibRice)” is a technical cooperation project that commenced in May 2021 and is scheduled to conclude in May 2025. It is
supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The one-day strategic workshop was aimed to validate the many approaches for Sustainable Lowland Rice Production.
Furthermore, the necessary actions required to achieve the project’s overall goal and to further enhance Liberia’s rice self-sufficiency were discussed.
The project’s deliverables are anticipated to strengthen the capacity of key stakeholders, enhance their productivity and sustainability of lowland rice farming, and ultimately contribute to increasing Liberia’s rice self-sufficiency
Katsuyuki YAMAMOTO is LibRice Chief Advisor. He told the gathering that
Liberia is one of the world’s leading rice-consuming nations but its domestic rice production has not kept pace with the growing population, leading to a rapidly increasing dependence on rice imports.
“This project focuses on lowland rice as the target crop, with Bong County serving as the primary implementation area. In its first year, the project team diligently listened to the voices of lowland rice farmers to thoroughly understand the realities on the ground at the grassroots level,” Mr. YAMAMOTO said.
The project, he says, has revealed various challenges, including the high cost of lowland rice production and the low competitiveness of domestically produced rice compared to imported rice.
To address these challenges, he said the project for the last four years has been working to solve problems by introducing technologies to improve productivity.
“Simultaneously, it has focused on creating an environment that makes rice farming more accessible for farmers by introducing labor-saving and cost-reducing technologies, as well as diversifying income sources through the utilization of small-scale rice milling machines,” he added.
The LibRice Approaches for Sustainable Lowland Rice Production and the Technical Handbook for Sustainable Lowland Rice Production, developed through the project’s efforts, have been officially approved by the Ministry of Agriculture.
These outputs are expected to support the implementation of key national policies, including the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) and the National Rice Development Strategy 2 (NRDS 2)
At the final Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting, it was confirmed that the project’s objectives and expected outcomes had been successfully achieved.
The Minister of Agriculture J. Alexander Nuetah said despite the program closing, he foresees bigger cooperation soon.
“It is sad to say that the JICA LibRice program is ending but I also see it as the new beginning of cooperation between JICA and the Ministry of Agriculture,” Mr. Nuetah said.
The Minister of Agriculture praised JICA for a well successful implementation of the LibRice project.
“JICA for the past four years has been helping our rice sector under the LibRice project, training our farmers, training some of our technicians, giving them new techniques for our rice production,” he said.
‘Mr. Nuetah added: “Also, I really appreciate the technical documents that came out of this project. We hope to use it -our technicians who are going in the field to train our farmers will use it.”
Dr. Yoshikawa Chieko is the Deputy Head of JICA Liberia Field Office. She said the project was an excellent collaboration with the Liberian government, especially the Agriculture Ministry.
“To motivate the farmers in Bong County in the area of rice cultivation. We increased the production of lowland rice. Also, the cost and the labor reduction in rice cultivation are some of those things we have achieved,” Dr. Chieko said.
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