By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
A local non-governmental organization under the umbrella, the Agricultural Research Consortium (ARC), with support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Charities in Kingsville, Rural Montserrado County, has concluded a six-day intensive agriculture capacity-building training for 130 farmers.
The week-long training which included members of the Kwakeh Multipurpose Women’s Agricultural Cooperative and the Latter-day Saints Church is part of the Church’s humanitarian efforts to empower farmers to become economically viable and improve food security within Liberia.
The capacity building also saw one hundred and thirty Participants were trained in Agronomic practices and techniques of vegetable production, post-harvest management, soil fertility management, integrated pest management, and agricultural marketing, among others. Each of the participants, through the support from the Latter Day Saint Church, received pesticides, a watering can, a spraying can, assorted vegetable seeds, and hoes as a means of enhancing the farmers’ capacity to produce more vegetables on the markets to enable them to generate income.
Speaking during the close of the training over the weekend in Kingsville at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the president of the Kwakeh Multipurpose Women Agricultural Cooperative Hawa Taigbailee expressed gratitude to the Latter Day Saint Church for their support in making the vision of the Cooperative become a reality through the training provided to them by the implementing partners Agricultural Research Consortium (ARC).
Training, according to her, is vital for farmers emphasizing that if a farmer lacks the technical agricultural knowledge such a farmer will not be able to produce more crops in the farming process, asserting that it is the technical agricultural knowledge that will enable that farmer to apply the fertilizers and other components on the crops.
The Kwakeh Multipurpose Women Agricultural Cooperative president further appeals to the Liberian Government and humanitarian organizations to assist them with additional training opportunities and agricultural equipment that will allow them to cultivate the soil for more agricultural productivity.
Speaking on the significance of empowering farmers, Madam Taigbailee proclaimed that if a farmer is being empowered, that farmer’s family will fully become independent and have access to the community and society at large and not be a liability.
“We need help as a farmer in Rural Montserrado County Especially We the Kwakeh Members, I am urgently asking the national government as the president, because if you compare farmers with doctors they work in collaboration because if I go to the hospital and doctors give me medication, the first thing the doctor will tell me is to take in food, so if you do not empower farmers how will that food be given to the patience “she indicated.
During the presentation of the certificate to the participants, the Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Daron Haddock, echoed the church’s vision and mission in helping people around the world, including the Kwakeh Multipurpose Women Agricultural Cooperative. Encouraging the participants, Elder Daron urged them to keep the desire to acquire knowledge at all times.
During the certification presentation, the Executive Director of the Agricultural Research Consortium (ARC), David Taigbailee, described the empowerment of women in agriculture as excellent, asserting that women are very careful in everything, highlighting that women are the ones who can prepare the food I as they know the best crops to plant.
The training was highly dominated by women, with the training implemented as head of qualifying the objective for such women because of the belief that women are better at actualizing agricultural productivity.
At the event was one of Montserrado County District Agriculture Officers at the Ministry of Agriculture, Marie Kollie, who admired the farmers acquiring such training, emphasizing the Latter-day Saint Church for the support given for the improvement of agriculture in that part of the country.
