By Alex Yomah
In an efforts geared towards improving the cocoa production in Liberia; the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) in collaborating with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Liberia on yesterday conducted a daylong workshop on a one-year study on Liberia’s Cocoa value-chain.
The CSOs working with ACET on this project are the Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD), the Center for Policy Action and Research (CePAR), and the Center for Democratic Governance (CDG) respectively.
The study “Regional Collaboration on Overcoming Binding Constraints on the Growth of Liberia’s Cocoa Value Chain” adopts a whole country economy approach which examines the challenges confronting the Liberian cocoa value chain, and benchmarks against good practices and success stories on the continent and elsewhere.
The one-year study outlines barriers in the growth of Liberia’s cocoa value chain and recommendations to leverage opportunities available in the sector.
The study is funded by the USAID under the Liberia Economic Policy Dialogue Activity (LEPDA). LEPDA is a four-year technical assistance, capacity development, and grants project that aims to foster self-reliance by spurring private sector-led economic expansion in Liberia.
The project seeks among other things, to increase citizen participation and advocacy in the policy-making arena by strengthening CSOs’ capacity to conduct robust policy analysis and become effective partners in the policymaking process.
Commenting on the essence of this study, Dr. Julius Gatune, Lead Researcher at ACET, indicates, “We conducted this study in three cocoa-growing counties of Liberia; Bong, Lofa and Nimba. It is our expectation, that the findings of this study will provide key policy lessons for reforms that target farmers and women in the cocoa industry in Liberia, and improve policy engagement between the Liberian government and the citizenry”.
Additionally, the study conducts a Political Economy Analysis (PEA) to support development of policy advocacy that is needed for uptake and implementation of recommendations, by the Government of Liberia.
Addressing stakeholders at the workshop in Monrovia to validate the findings and recommendations in the initial report, Joe-Hoover Gbadyu, Representative on Economic Growth specialist-USAID, indicated that elaborate further on LEPDA stating the initial report of the study identified innovations that can be domesticated by leveraging partnerships with key stakeholders and learning from regional peers.
These include solutions for first mile transport problems, financial inclusion, access to inputs, storage and markets. The report also makes policy recommendations to catalyze and scale innovations identified, which stakeholders at the validation workshop will discuss and approve.
