Posted on 6 Dec 2023 / Cleta Guzeh

USAID Agribusiness Incubator & Pitching Competition Event

USAID Liberia has awarded grants to 12 agribusinesses in Monrovia under its USAID incubator development activity. These grants were given in different categories and were highly competitive, with winners in the first category receiving US$50,000 each. These include The 8teen Corporation, Toe-Zarzar Farms Inc., Women Agriculture Promoters, and Jackson Ranch Incorporated..

In the second category, winners, including Eco-Soap Liberia, BELE-DEMAI FARMERS CORPERATIVE, INC, and MAYO FARM, received US$25,000 each. Winners in the third and final category received US$10,000 each, including Natural Honey, KT & AT Cashews Farms Inc, Passama Fish Farmer Union, Yarkpazuah, and Bindah Enterprise.

The USAID Agribusiness Incubator & Development Activity - Lot C Pitch Competition was a significant moment for agricultural entrepreneurs to pitch their transformative ideas. Only the best 12 businesses were granted funding to scale their ventures to new heights. This program aims to provide valuable connections and support to young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. The competition brought together participants from Bomi, Gbarpolu, Lofa, Grand Cape Mount, and Grand Gedeh Counties..

The objective of the program is to work with informal agribusinesses and help them formalize their operations, organizers said. The CEO of iCampus, Luther Jeke, highlighted the lengthy journey from the co-creation process with USAID-ATI to the pitching competition. The selection process involved receiving 306 applications, conducting due diligence assessments, and selecting the top 30 businesses. These entrepreneurs underwent boot camps, workshops, mentoring, and coaching sessions for four months to prepare for the final pitch.

“This has been a very long journey. We started from the co-creation process with USAID-ATI, last year where we started with engagement with the team in October,” Jeke said while recalling the official launch of the Incubation process in Ganta City, Nimba County.

“We are happy today that we are having the pitch competition events of these 30 Agribusinesses from five counties, including Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, and Bomi counties,” he added. “We received a total of 306 applications from potential Agribusinesses.

"Following a rigorous vetting process, we could select the top 35 potential Agribusinesses. We went out to villages within the five counties and a due diligence assessment exercise was conducted to what applicants wrote on their applications versus what was the reality on the ground.”

And after all the formalities, they could elect 30 as the final. Jeke said, “We have been able to work with them for the last 4 months through a series of boot camps, technical workshops, mentoring, and coaching sessions to prepare them for the final pitch.

"The pitching competition was wonderful. We wish for USAID and iCampus to continue such initiative in helping small agribusinesses to develop their capacity."

Benjamin Y. Dorborson

Minister Jeanine Cooper commended the initiative and emphasized the need to support small agribusinesses to foster economic growth. She also revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture has plans to bring in equipment and train young people from rural areas to operate them.

Meanwhile, the USAID Agribusiness Incubator & Development Activity - Lot C Pitch Competition has provided valuable support and funding to deserving agribusinesses in Liberia, contributing to the growth and development of the agricultural sector.

Posted on 22 April 2022 / Philip S. T. Jallayu, Jr.

The Official Launch Of The National Oil Palm Strategy & Action Plan (NOPSAP)

The Ministry of Agriculture through the National Oil Palm Platform of Liberia (NOPPOL) launched the National Oil Palm Strategy and Action Plan (NOPSAP). The strategy launched on April 14, 2022, is to guide sustainable oil palm development for the next five years (2021-2026).

This process came about when the oil palm sector never had a suitable regulation in terms of guidance. It brought together a number of multi-stakeholder actors under the banner, the National Oil Palm Platform of Liberia (NOPPOL or the Platform). NOPPOL is a group of technical experts drawn from producers (including smallholders) in Liberia, the supply chain and investors, organizations with environmental interest, organizations with social interest, and Government representatives.

Launching the document, The Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Jeanine M. Cooper said oil Palm production is widely viewed negatively around the world. “That is why the five-year strategy is important because we live in a global community. We need a collective effort that will move the entity forward and transform its employees’ lives.” She called for the establishment of the oil palm development fund that will help communities benefit from their forest.

Madam Cooper encouraged partners in the oil palm sector to use the Action Plan to develop the sector and boost Liberia's oil palm industry. “This strategy will go a long way in developing our palm oil sector and providing unity amongst affected communities,” the Minister added. According to her, the strategy will help in the commercialization of palm oil in large quantities.

Galah Toto, the NOPPOL/Platform Manager and Lead Coordinator of the National Oil Palm Strategy, said the plan is intended to access finance for sustainable palm oil development in the country, among others. “This plan seeks to place the oil palm sector for strategic development, ”Mr. Toto explained.

Jenkins Flahwor, who proxied for the Swedish ambassador, promised the Embassy's commitment to work with the MOA in areas that are of priority to the country. He indicated that the Embassy has a 5-year strategic plan covering biodiversity, climate change, amongst others, and as such, there would be areas in the National Oil Palm Strategy that could be supported by the Government of Sweden. The launch of the National Oil Palm Strategy and Action Plan highlights the genesis of palm oil production in Liberia.

"Very good initiative. It is our hope that NOPSAP will encourage more value chain investments into the sector as we smallholder farmers lack the individual capacity to acquire palm processing equipment."

Wolawu Gayflor

According to the strategy document, prior to the civil war, the government here solely owned oil palm plantations. Plantations were also owned communally with aid from the government and managed by cooperatives or held under trusteeship by managing communities. But the situation has now changed, and production of oil palm is being done by medium and smallholders as well as concessionaires. Oil palm is the most widely grown tree crop in Liberia by about 21% of households, which accounts for approximately one-tenth of employment in the agricultural sector.

The NOPSAP aims to guide public and private institutions, small to large-scale producers, technical and civil society organizations participating in the sector to achieve common objectives. The overall goal of the NOPSAP 2021-2026 is to place the oil palm sector as a strategic engine for national and inclusive rural economic growth.

Moses Hassah, Energy and Environment Specialist, UNDP, said the launch is very important because it will benefit communities. He said affected communities must set up a committee that will be responsible to manage the national oil palm development fund. “There is a lot of money sitting in the oil palm development fund, all because we do not have a committee set up to manage these funds. It is important — the communities will benefit, but the community has to be set up to manage these funds. Let’s get to our communities. How long will it take to just select a representative to represent a fund that will benefit the community?”

Posted on 21 October 2020 / Philip S. T. Jallayu, Jr.

Zorzor District Oil Palm Farmer Cooperative Society

Smallholders oil palm farmers from across Zorzor District and its environ in Lofa County gathered on three occasions at the offices of Gueve Farm in Yeala for the purpose of forming an oil pal farmers cooperative. These meetings were chaired by Mr. Gueve P. Dean, the CEO of Gueve Farm.

The first gathering was on September 28, 2020 with the attendance of more than thirty-five smallholder oil palm farmers. In this meeting, participants were briefed and updated about the growing oil palm industry in Liberia with specific references to the activities of the National Oil Palm Platform of Liberia (NOPPOL), The Association of Liberia Oil Palm Farmers, Inc. (TALOPFI) and the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This was climaxed with participants agreeing to form a cooperative to be name and styled: Zorzor District Oil Palm Farmers Cooperative Society (ZODOPFCS).

The second gathering was on October 2, 2020. In this meeting, the discussions were centered around membership, management, shares amongst other items. At the end of this meeting, a seven-person constitution committee was setup to draft the By-Laws and Constitution of the cooperative.

The third meeting was held on October 9, 2020 at which time the draft constitution was presented to the body. This meeting took the entire day with participants making inputs to the draft constitution. At the end, the constitution was adopted to be used as the legal instrument for the day to day governance of the cooperative.

"There is a need for an agriculture bank in Liberia to help us smallholder farmers cultivate our land so we may earn a living out of it. Helping us smallholder farmers to grow more is a key way to fight hunger – and helping us to earn more from selling our produce is a key way to fight poverty."

Zubah K. Johnson

With the formation of this cooperative, smallholders oil palm farmers within this region will be able to address their common challenges which includes but not limited to: the lack of access to credit, the lack of improved planting materials and the lack of training. The cooperative will also be able to raise awareness for the changing of mindset, training members in good agriculture practices to prepare smallholders oil palm farmers for certification.

Posted on 10 August 2020 / Philip S. T. Jallayu, Jr. -- Source: UNDP Green Commodities Programme

Sustainable Palm Oil

Recovering from a 14-year civil war and an Ebola outbreak in 2014 and 2015 which devastated the entire nation, Liberia has set its sights on palm oil as a means to rebuild its economy. Reported to provide thousands of jobs for a country with over 1 million people living in extreme poverty, palm oil looks to offer the Liberian economy a welcome break.

However, there is a catch.

Without effective management of the ever-expanding global palm oil industry, Liberia risks destroying its vast, age-old primary forests which are relied upon by the larger ecosystem and their local communities. With more and more land being converted to oil palm plantations, and consequently the gradual infringement on the traditional way of life, the industry has been a matter of tension among the townspeople whose sacred ancestral land is being invested into palm oil mills.

The country has therefore been confronted with a compromise; should it move away from a potential key to national economic development, or should it put the local customs and livelihoods at risk?

In order to transition from the above compromise to instead strive for a win-win solution, the UNDP Green Commodities Programme has been partnering with the Liberian government and Conservation International (CI) via the Good Growth Partnership (see more under Global Initiatives) to establish the Northwestern Oil Palm Landscape Forum (NOPPOL). An evolution of the previous Oil Palm Technical Working Group (OPTWG), this new platform was implemented in 2019 to convene a wide array of stakeholders in the discussion on sustainably developing Liberia’s involvement with the agricultural crop. In order to foster a representative discourse, NOPPOL incorporated input from the North Western Oil Palm Landscape Forum (NWOPLF), taking into account the voices of county members of Bomi, Bong, and Grand Cape Mount.

Co-chaired by the Liberian Ministry of Agriculture and the Forest Development Authority, changemakers from the public, private and civil society sectors are working through challenges and agreeing on the key barriers from achieving sustainable production of palm oil in Liberia.

"As we see oil palm as an energizing means to rebuilt our economy, and also an important industry for the future of our country, there’s a need for an Oil Palm Market to support the growing industry in Liberia."

Alexander Kokulo, Sr.

With the establishment of the NOPPOL and following GCP’s signature process (see Our Focus), it is agreed that the participants begin working on the development of a national strategy on sustainable oil palm. With the national strategy in order, a National Action Plan on Sustainable Palm Oil in Liberia will soon follow suit.