To make Liberia self-sufficient in food production, a local agricultural organization has initiated training for 168 local farmers in Totota, Bong County.
The 12 days training of farmers is an effort by the Agricultural Research Consortium (ARC) an institution in the area of training farmers across Liberia.
In an interview after the official opening of the 12 days training,the donor of the project, Elder Trapain of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus said he and his wife are humanitarians who care for the needy
Talking about the funding provided for the project, Elder Trapain said it came from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints donation done worldwide to charity. He indicated that the Church’s charity sent him and his wife to Liberia so that they can find good places to spend the money.
Pointing at some of the things they do as an institution in Liberia is the current renovation of government hospitals, remodeling schools, and as well as farming projects. According to him, they were contacted by the head of Totota branch of the Latter Day Saints Church about the needs of citizens of that part of Liberia who were in need of training.
Asked about the prospects he sees in investing in farmers, the humanitarian said, it is to empower farmers to raise different types of crops, that the crops they raised grow better so that they can do more and also that their labor will benefit them by adding monetary values.
According to him, the biggest dream of the initiative is for Liberian farmers to grow crops on a larger scale that will help address the country’s food production problems. He said their Church has the name of Jesus Christ in it and they are to act as Jesus would act.
“You know that Jesus Christ cares for the poor and so, we feel to follow him by caring for people who have less,” Elder Trapainsaid.
The opening program was witnessed by Bong County local government, members of the Christian community.
For his part, the Training Coordinator at ARC, Victor V. Gahndolo said, “If Liberia is to become a better place to sustain herself in food production, the farmers should be empowered in improved agriculture technologies, improved innovations that have come about in agriculture so that they can serve as Ambassadors in their communities when it comes to new innovations.”
According to him, they have a system put in place to monitor and evaluate their trainees that have benefited from their previous initiatives in our parts of Liberia.
The ARC training coordinator said each of the trainees will benefit from a spraying cane, a bag of fertilizer, seeds of crops they want to start up with and as well as provision of agricultural tools that will enhance their work.
He called on the Liberian Government to keep close to the farmers on grounds that farming minimizes hunger and makes a nation self-sustainable in food security. ARC is a nonprofit organization that is involved in agricultural activities such as research, farmers’ capacity building (Training) and crop improvement.
According to officials of the institution, the vision of the organization is to maximize local food production to enhance food security in Liberia with a mission to promote agriculture productivity across Liberia through training, research and crop improvement.
The farmers are being trained in different methods of growing crops to provide sustainable agricultural capacity building services. They were also trained in controlling pests and disease invasion, how to multiple their yields, improved on poor soil for the better.
“The farmers we are training are expected to engage in large-scale farming and agricultural activities that increase food production for self-sufficiency and reduce food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition in Liberia” the training coordinator said.
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