Liberia Takes Major Leap to Solve Food Security Crisis
– As World Bank provides additional funding to support 36,000 farming households
22 December 2022, in the city of Washington Additional Financing to the Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP-AF) was granted by the World Bank in the amount of $30 million in concessional International Development Association (IDA) credit. This was done in order to increase smallholder farmers’ and agri-enterprises’ levels of productivity as well as their access to markets for specific food value chains, particularly rice. Because of this funding, which originates from the Crisis Response Window and Early Response Financing (CRW-ERF) of IDA, the Liberia Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP) will be able to benefit an additional 36,000 households, bringing the total number of households that will benefit from the project from 60,000 to 96,000. This represents an increase of 60%.
According to Khwima Nthara, the World Bank’s Country Manager for Liberia, “the recent global food crisis that resulted from various global shocks such as the Russia-Ukraine war and climate change has underscored the need for Liberia to address the issue of food security.” “The recent global food crisis that resulted from various global shocks such as the Russia-Ukraine war and climate change.” “I’m happy that this additional money will assist Liberia in growing rice, which is important for the country’s overall food security.”
The additional funding will be used to support a supply response to the severe food crisis that is currently affecting the country in accordance with the Crisis Response Framework developed by the World Bank. It will support increased agricultural productivity and the development of selected value chains that are vital to the achievement of food security and will make it easier for people to obtain food. In addition to this, it will make the country’s systems for the prevention and monitoring of food crises more robust, and it will increase the community’s resistance to the effects of climate change. The initial phase of the project was carried out across 11 of Liberia’s 15 counties. With the assistance of this financing, the activities of the project will be expanded to cover all 15 counties, thereby addressing concerns about food security on a national scale.
This additional funding will support expanded food production, with a particular emphasis on rice; in addition, it will improve the monitoring, evaluation, coordination, and management of the crisis. According to project co-task team leaders Adetunji Oredipe and John Kobina Richardson, “The financing will also cover other value chains, such as palm oil and vegetables. These value chains are critical to improving food and nutrition security – food availability and access – and have a high potential for income generation and poverty reduction.” [Citation needed] “The financing will also cover other value chains, such as palm oil and vegetables.
With the additional funds, climate-resilient seed varieties will be utilized, investments will be made in climate-resilient infrastructure, practices will be put into place to stop soil erosion and keep nutrients in the soil, water management will be improved, and pests and diseases will be controlled more effectively.
The World Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest people is known as the International Development Association (IDA). It was established in 1960 and provides grants as well as loans with interest rates as low as possible or even none at all for the purpose of funding projects and programs that encourage economic growth, help reduce poverty, and make the lives of the poor better. The International Development Association (IDA) is one of the largest sources of assistance for the 76 poorest countries in the world, 39 of which are located in Africa. The 1.6 billion people who call the countries that are eligible for IDA’s assistance home benefit from the resources that help bring about positive change in their everyday lives. Since it was established, the International
Development Association (IDA) has provided financial assistance to 113 nations for the purpose of advancing their respective nations’ development efforts. The annual commitments are consistently increasing and have averaged $21 billion over the past three years. Approximately 61% of these commitments are directed toward Africa.
