Ganta, Nimba County – In an effort to increase awareness of Gender-Responsive Agriculture Extension Services and ensure support for women farmers across Liberia, over 40 Agriculture County and District Coordinators have committed to mainstreaming gender in agriculture activities.
They made the commitment at the close of a two-day Gender Responsive Planning and Extension Service Delivery Training organized by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
The training is under a component of the World Bank 44.6 Million Dollars Project titled: Liberia Women Empowerment Project currently being implemented by the Ministry of Gender.
Component 4 of the LWEP focuses on strengthening public institutions to enhance gender equality.
The training workshop which took place from January 7-8, 2025 in Ganta City, Nimba County brought together technicians, Gender Social inclusion units’ experts, and agriculture extension officers.
The training was intended to equip agriculture technicians with the needed skills to improve leadership roles within agriculture activities across the country.
Speaking at the end of the training, the participants stated that the workshop provided them with the necessary technical skills and knowledge to serve as trainers of trainers (TOT) in their various counties and districts.
“This training is timely and well appreciated,” A. Key Sumo, Gbarpolu County Agriculture Coordinator stated. He also promised to visit the rural parts of the county, including districts, and towns, and to present the knowledge acquired to local farmers and others involved in agricultural activities.
According to him, these ideas will address gender balance in the Liberian agriculture sector and increase food productivity. “We will also ensure that tools ordered for farming activities will be gender-sensitive, especially at the advantage of women to address gender responsiveness”.
In addition, Madam Nounou Sharty, Grand Gedeh County Agriculture Coordinator, while acknowledging the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP) being implemented in her county, termed the training as very important.
“As this project is helping rural women to build their economic capacities, the training, too, will also help us to interact with the women and to deal with gender-related issues,” she added. Madam Sharty stated that the workshop had shaped her initial perception of gender. “To be very frank from the training, we were made to understand that gender is not just about the human being, but the way we think”.
Recommendations to the National Government
The CACs and DAOs, particularly those from the six (6) LWEP implementing counties have further provided several recommendations to enhance food production and other agricultural activities across the country. Madam Famatta J. Kamara, Grand Cape County Agriculture Coordinator, urged the Liberian government to hugely support local farmers with the necessary machines and financial resources to transition from subsistence farming to merchandise farming.
“Most of these activities hardly reach the hard-to-reach areas and most of our farmers are in those hard-to-reach places. So, I am encouraging the government to allocate better funding, provide the needed farming materials, and address other key challenges that serve as potential obstacles to the progress of farming in our country,” she stressed.
Also speaking, Samuel C. Smith, Bomi County Agriculture Coordinator, further urged the government to also extend such training initiatives to women and men who are into farming activities, adding that the said move will give those farmers a sense of belongingness and motivate their efforts to increase productivity.
“We are going back to Bomi with these fresh ideas to make sure that our women are fully involved in the decision-making process of agricultural activities and provide the roadmap on how they can take responsibility for what they choose to do for their world and country,” Smith stated.
Furthermore, the CAC for River Cess Mr. Chester H. Garduard and Madam Fatu M. Carnmu, CAC for Montserrado Counties respectively, lauded the national government through the Ministries of Agriculture and Gender for organizing the workshop. They also admonished the government to decentralize these training activities into regions.
In her closing remarks, the Team Lead and Director for Gender, Social and Inclusion Unit (GSIU) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Madam Keturah K. T. Woods thanked the participants for dedicating their time during the course of training. She also encouraged them to put into practice the technical skills acquired in their respective counties and districts.
Emphasizing the objectives of the workshop, Madam Woods indicated that the initiative seeks to increase the awareness and understanding of gender mainstreaming among MOA’s field technicians and equip CACs, DAOs, and other field staff with practical tools and knowledge to implement gender-responsive extension services.
“This aims to ensure that extension services are designed and delivered in a way that considers the different roles, needs, and challenges faced by males, females, and farmers with special needs,” she said. The Team Lead further stated that the training seeks to develop a robust monitoring and reporting system to assess the impact of gender-responsive extension services on smallholder farmers, particularly women.
Also speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Gender, Jesse James, Program Officer/WED (Women Empowerment Division) at the ministry, emphasized the training of Extension Officers aimed at focusing on women in the agriculture sector. He added that such knowledge will give women economic empowerment.
He also lauded the Ministry of Agriculture for organizing the workshop and urged the participants to take advantage.
The LWEP is a 5-year World Bank’s US$44.6 million funded project implemented by the Ministry of Gender to support women empowerment in six (6) counties: River Cess, Gedeh, Gbarpolu, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, and Rural Montserrado. It specifically targets 267,200 people in over 750 communities.
The LWEP also aims to provide grants in various categories, including Individual Enterprises (US$1,000 to US$2,500), Livelihood Groups (US$2,500 to US$4,000), Village Savings and Loan Associations (US$4,000 to US$8,000), and Producer Groups/Farmer Based Organizations (US$4,000 to US$8,000).
