February 22, 2024
Monrovia – Madam Jeanine M. Cooper, the immediate past minister of agriculture, says if Liberia’s Agriculture sector is to develop, there is a need to treat agriculture as a business rather than just sustenance.
She made the comment Tuesday February 20, 2024 at a dinner held in her honor by the group of Agro-prenures who have benefited from funding during her leadership as minister over the sector.
“I do believe that agriculture in and of itself cannot do anything if it is not treated as a business without the business aspect of agriculture it will go nowhere. We can have the best soil scientist, the best crops scientist, if farmers cannot sell what he or she produces you will not move.
At her honoring program, she explained to a gathering comprising majority agricultural entrepreneurs she as her motivation to empower local farmers comes from her background as a farmer who was interested in Agropreneurship.
“When I became minister, I brought in my family (Agro-preneurs). One hundred sixty-seven grantees benefited from US$ 21.6 million United states dollars of funding from international organizations went directly to the agriculture private sector.”
According to the Agro-entreprenurs, the former minister was instrumental in the setting up of 43 Palm oil processing plants across the country an astronomical increase from, the previous four (4).
“Liberia now has a palm oil industry; Liberia now has its own seed plant especially cocoa seeds can now be purchase locally. we have factories producing chocolate, Cocoa powder, cocoa butter, we have factories caning palm butter.”
We have all it takes to setup our merchandise farming to give our farmers the need tools to farm.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and is also a key sector for human development and economic growth in Liberia.
According to the World Bank (2019), over 75 percent of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. The sector contributes 25 – 35 percent to Liberia’s GDP.
With over 4 million acres of arable land, Liberia has the potential for commercial agricultural production. The key sub-sectors are food crops, tree crops, horticultural crops, animal husbandry, and fisheries and aquaculture.
