By Bill W. Cooper
The Ministry of Agriculture through its World Bank Project Implementation Unit (PIU), has introduced 450 tricycles to enhance market access and promote youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Lofa and other counties.
The initiative, accordingly is also intended to ease transportation burdens for rural smallholder farmers, enabling them commute their produce from one farm, village and town to another especially during this and other raining season.
However, farm-to-market roads in Liberia have long been plagued by aged-old problems of poor conditions, posing significant challenges for small holder farmers especially after harvesting their produce.
This difficult transportation of agricultural produce has also led to increased post-harvest losses, restricted agricultural production and limited market access, ultimately affecting food availability and farmers’ incomes.
But with this intervention, the MOA Lofa County Focal Person, Levi Kpenkpa, said “These tricycles aims to enhance market access and promote youth agricultural entrepreneurship as well as reduce transportation challenges and support the agricultural sector.”
Kpenkpa noted that the initiative is under the support of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP), and highlighted, “Youth involvement in agriculture can potentially lessen the challenges of food security and youth unemployment.”
“This activity aims to reduce rural poverty and hunger by enhancing market access for actors within the agricultural value chain while promoting youth agricultural entrepreneurship and sustainable employment,” he added.
According to him, beneficiaries of the tricycles will be selected based on specific criteria to ensure the initiative’s success, noting, “Applicants must be youth aged 18 to 35, reside within the community or village and have the ability to ride a motorbike or tricycle.”
“They must also have a good reputation within the community, verified by elders, and have lived in the community for more than two years as selected youths must be willing to pay at least 40 percent of the tricycle’s purchase cost, either through equity or loans from financial institutions.
They must also commit to using the tricycle primarily for agricultural transportation and this selection process will focus on counties with high agricultural production and commercialization where road conditions are particularly poor,” he emphasized.
Mr. Kpenkpa further asserted, “The number of beneficiaries per county will be determined by the agricultural population and production capacity of staple crops like rice and cassava from 2019 to the present.”
“For us in Lofa, we received 68 tricycles while Bomi got 15, Bong 79, Gbarpolu 20, Grand Bassa 27, Grand Cape Mount 14, Grand Gedeh 18, Grand Kru 15, Margibi 13, Maryland 15, Montserrado 13, Nimba 105, Rivercess 14, Rivergee 13, and Sinoe County 21,” he said.
“Again, beneficiaries must agree to a transport equipment Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Agriculture, stipulating that at least 70 percent of the transported commodities must be agricultural products,” he revealed.
The MOA Lofa County Focal Person further narrated, “Beneficiaries will also be required to complete a monthly commodity transport form, detailing the crops transported within a specific value chain.”
He added, “Interested individuals can apply by visiting the Ministry of Agriculture office right behind the administrative building and this also applied to other counties and the collection and submission of application form is free. An online application form is also available for those who prefer to apply digitally and all qualified applicants will be contacted for the next phase of the selection process.”
Meanwhile, the initiative marks a significant step towards improving agricultural productivity and market access in Liberia, supporting rural smallholder farmers, and empowering the youth through sustainable employment opportunities.
