LACRA, Partners Handover Seeds, Equipment
By Domingo Dargbeh
The Director General of the Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA), Christopher D. Sankolo, on Wednesday, August 5, joined senior government officials, development partners, and stakeholders at the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) in Suakoko, Bong County.
The ceremony was the symbolic handover of improved seeds, and agricultural equipment under the Seeds4Liberia Project.
Sankolo was accompanied by the deputy director general for Operations, and Technical Services, Alpha K. Gongolee.
The Seeds4Liberia Project is a flagship agricultural development initiative funded by the European Union (EU) to strengthen seed systems, and increase agricultural productivity through the production of quality planting materials, and the development of resilient agricultural value chains.
The project is spearheaded by AfricaRice in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), WorldFish, and several government institutions, including the Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA).
The initiative supports five priority agricultural value chains that are essential to food security, and economic transformation, including rice, cassava, coffee, soybean, and aquaculture.
Within the coffee value chain, IITA works in close collaboration with LACRA to revive indigenous Coffee Liberica, a unique coffee species native with growing international demand.
To date, LACRA and IITA have jointly distributed more than 600,000 Coffee Liberica seedlings to farmers in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Montserrado, and Bomi counties.
The exercise advanced efforts to increase domestic coffee production, and restore Liberia’s position in the global coffee market.
Sankolo encouraged Liberians to embrace Coffee Liberica cultivation as a viable pathway to improve household incomes, and reduce poverty.
“Liberians should grow Coffee Liberica, because it has the potential to transform livelihoods, and reduce poverty in several other households. The world is demanding Coffee Liberica, we simply need to increase our production, and take advantage of this growing market.”
Mr. Sankolo also reaffirmed LACRA’s commitment to work alongside development partners, and farming communities to strengthen the coffee sector through technical support, quality planting materials, and farmer capacity building.
