By Grace Q. Bryant
Grand Bassa County District 4 Representative, Alfred H. Flomo, is seeking the Plenary of the House of Representatives’ support to revitalize the Agriculture Bank of Liberia, otherwise known as the Farmers’ Bank, to give farmers the opportunity to acquire loans for their farming projects.
He described the revitalization as the process of making something grow, develop, or become successful again.
The Grand Bassa County lawmaker said agriculture, including forestry, has been the primary livelihood for more than 60 percent of Liberia’s 2021 gross domestic product (GDP).
He furthered that the sector is seriously challenged with a lot of difficulties since the closure of the Agriculture Bank of Liberia, due to the 14 years of civil unrest in the country.
“Agriculture is a small scale, and overall agricultural productivity is low, due in large part to low technology practices and lack of quality agricultural inputs,” he noted.
He maintained, “As a result, Liberia imports more than 80 percent of its staple food, rice, making the country vulnerable to global food insecurity.
Additionally, the sector is poorly integrated, the sector lacks basic infrastructure such as machine, farming equipment and tools, farm to market roads, fertilizers and pesticides, including food storage.”
“With the aforementioned constraints in the agriculture sector, revitalizing the Agricultural Bank of Liberia that will give farmers the opportunity for loans to help alleviate some of these problems,” he expressed.
“I do urge the plenary of this august body of the 55th Legislature in session to see reason for the revitalization of the agriculture bank of Liberia,” he appealed.
