Liberia’s Finance Ministers have and continue to use donor-designed, donor-funded, and donor-
controlled agriculture projects as a scapegoat for not funding agriculture through the national
budget. Their argument is always the same: “agriculture projects are financed by donors through
loans and grants to Liberia, therefore agriculture is already being funded by the government”.
By Ambulah Mamey, contributing writer
This argument is technically not correct. It confuses accounting with the economics of agricultural
transformation. And every time it is tested against evidence on the effective ways to fund
agriculture for food and jobs, it FAILS. It is time that we stop such justification.
Donor projects, by design, modality, and control mechanisms, may generate spots of short-term
success here and there, but they have not delivered the transformation Liberia needs to solve the
food and jobs crisis. To keep depending on them is an oath to keep failing. Read my 2022 Article.
JNB and Minister Nuetah know this. In the “Feed Yourself” plan, they note the importance of donor
projects and argue that the projects are often unsustainable, not always aligned with national
priorities, and risks deepening Liberia’s dependency. Sadly, two years later, agriculture spending
is low, and we are using the same “donor project” as justification; sending mix signal about
commitment and the future of the “A” in the ARREST Agenda. No country succeeds by funding
the most critical pillar of its development strategy through donor projects. We must offload
significant amounts of budget money into nationally owned and controlled value chain programs
and hold the Ministry of Agriculture to show clear progress every budget year.
Others have done this. Ghana in 2017, had more donor-funded agriculture projects compared to
Liberia—even on a per-capita basis. Yet, they moved toward on-budget, multi-year, government-
owned agriculture programs. They invested over US$1 billion in their “Planting for Food and Jobs”
(PFJ) program. PFJ had challenges but delivered food and jobs on a scale and crowded- in
private funds that saw success. Senegal executed PRACAS, a state-owned, multi-year, budget-
funded agriculture program that helped them to reach near rice self-sufficiency.
Donor projects are never a substitute for sustained domestic budget financing; they complement.
Agricultural transformation requires national systems, predictable recurrent funding, and long-
term political ownership—not a series of disconnected projects here and there.
Liberia’s agriculture plan—costed at US$777 million—says the Liberian budget will provide US$272
million over six budgets (2024–2030). The Senate will pass the third budget very soon, but
agriculture spending remains low. The funding gap leaves me worried that the RESCUE team may
not deliver the food and jobs as promised, and JNB could fail in his area like Weah failed in football.
Until Liberia sees donor projects as complements and not supplements, move away from
dependence that has failed to deliver transformation since 2005—and commits to serious, on-
budget financing—agriculture will continue to absorb large loans and grants without producing
adequate rice and jobs. I am not swearing the country, I am predicting based on experience.
For me, that intentional shift must begin now. It can start by taking US$10–15 million from NSA and
reallocating it to agriculture, allowing Dr. Nuetah and his team to invest directly in value chains,
where jobs and food can be unlocked quickly and at scale.
