-Agriculture Minister rallies GoL
The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Alexander Neutah, has highlighted the pressing issues faced by the Ministry in terms of human resource capacity and budgetary support to effectively carry out its operations and achieve its goals outlined in the National Agriculture Development Plan.
Minister Neutah emphasized the critical need for additional resources, pointing out that the current human resource capacity falls short in various key areas. With only 373 active employees and 117 approaching retirement age, the Ministry faces shortages in crucial positions such as District Agriculture Officers (DAOs) and clan Agriculture technicians. There is also a significant gap in the number of specialists needed to support various agricultural programs and initiatives.
Specifically, Minister Neutah identified key focus areas that require immediate attention, including crop specialists, climate agriculture experts, and food and nutrition specialists. He emphasized the importance of addressing these shortages to enhance the Ministry’s capabilities in vital sectors such as crop protection, land and water management, and vegetable production.
In addition to human resource challenges, the Ministry is also grappling with budgetary limitations. The current budget allocation for salaries is insufficient to meet the operational needs of the Ministry, prompting a proposed increase to ensure proper funding for essential activities. Minister Neutah disclosed that the Ministry is seeking an additional US$1,397,721.12 to supplement the existing budget, bringing the total to US$3,576,075.12.
Minister Neutah underscored the urgency of addressing these resource constraints to bolster the Ministry’s capacity and effectiveness in advancing agricultural development and ensuring food security in the country.
The Agriculture Minister is advocating for an additional budget allocation of US$621,060.00 to supplement the existing budget of $128,940.00 for general goods and services within the ministry. Additionally, he has requested the Government of Liberia, through the National Legislature, to allocate $3,918,000 for rice, maize, and cassava production nationwide.
Furthermore, Minister Neutah highlighted that the Ministry of Agriculture, with technical support from its partners, is currently crafting the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) to steer the sector’s development over the next six years. The NADP aims to not only direct government investments in agriculture but also provide a roadmap for engaging development partners in agricultural advancements throughout the country.
Under the NADP framework, Liberia will adopt a value chain approach to developing various subsectors of the agricultural economy, focusing on food crops, tree crops, and fruit crops across the nation. During a recent press briefing at MICAT, Minister Neutah outlined the allocation of land for different crops under the NADP program: 50,000 hectares for rice cultivation, 20,000 hectares for mechanized cassava production, 20,000 hectares for mechanized maize production, and 2,000 hectares for mechanized vegetable production in the food crops sector.
Additionally, the ministry will prioritize the cultivation of cocoa with 10,000 hectares of new smallholder cocoa farms, 15,000 hectares for smallholder coffee farms, 5,000 hectares for cashew nut plantations, and 12,000 hectares for coconut cultivation in the coastal counties under the tree crops category.
Minister Neutah emphasized that Liberia, under his leadership at the Ministry of Agriculture, will also benefit from an expansion in fruit crop production, with 5,000 hectares of smallholder land earmarked for avocado cultivation.
