Agriculture Cooperatives Could Save Our Rural Subsistent Farmers, Reduce Poverty And Feed Liberia

By:James Thomas-Queh

One of the important pillars of President Weah’s “Pro-poor Governance” platform is agriculture development. And those of us whose parents were traditional subsistent farmers, and still have most family members engaged in this noble activity for their livelihood - at the same time preserving their ancestral villages and land for the future generations – must honestly applaud and encourage the President and his government.

This is my proposal herein- and not that of an agriculture expect.  It is crafted from the experience gained from a patriotic, family engagement ( www.kedo-liberia.org) to assist my people and help rebuild our devastated village after the installation of our democratic government in 2006.

In Brief: One Major Source Of Poverty And Urban Migration

Anyone viewing the images of Liberia up to the 1930s would observed that for almost a century Liberia was 100% rural, undeveloped and surviving meanly on subsistent farming – producing enough country rice, cassava, eddoes,   yam, bitter- balls, pepper, eggplant, etc to feed all its people on both sides of the aisles - settlers and indigenous population. Notwithstanding, the main source of revenue for the central government was the abominable hot tax extorted from the indigenous population.      

Then came the arrival of the new plantation and iron ore economy during the same period (Firestone plantation, LMC et al). For the massive laborers needed, the indigenous population was again sacrificed, forcing most of them to abandon their staple food farming tradition and become the miserable wage laborers. To compensate and contain the revolt, the wage included few cups of the American pot-boiled rice which later became known in the Liberian parlance as “pussava” and few cents to buy the soup. Further, as the rent from the concessions filled the state coffers, the government finally abandoned the controversial hut tax.

But the damage to our national psyche was already consummated. The crops such as rubber, cocoa and coffee –in demand and commercialized by the colonial powers -became known as the “cash crops”; leaving our traditional products without any monetary value. So our new settler bureaucrats and government officials, who yesterday survived on traditional subsistent farming, begun acquiring large tracts of farmland from the indigenous population to establish big private rubber farms, instead of rice, cassava, eddoes or vegetables. Their recruitment methods and wages (if any) were no better than Firestone’s. With state power, they also became powerful landlords,  incorporating entire villages into their fiefdoms, and villagers becoming their de facto subjects to maintain their vast plantation domains.
In short, from this point on urbanization begun to grow, leaving behind more than 80% of the population in the rural areas to fetch for themselves - no genuine agriculture policy to develop the enormous rural economic potential; no schools for villagers to send the children; no proper healthcare facilities; no road network, etc. In essence,  the subsistent farmers were never considered as making any meaningful contribution to the national economy.

The result, after 170 years of independence rural farming activities are still being practiced through the rudimentary traditional farming methods as they were long before 1847. Or to put it more bluntly, over 80% of our population has been totally stagnant, deprived of development both mental and infrastructure for almost 200 years. Isn’t it a shame and a real national tragedy? Should we be surprised then that after 170 years of nationhood over 80% of our population is still illiterate?

And this is not the only disastrous consequence. The villages are  being fast depleted and impoverished because the youths migrate massively to the urban areas to seek better opportunities, but turned out to become the most jobless youths, homeless, illiterate, pehn-pehn  drivers, drug pushers, delinquents, etc – a vicious circle of extreme poverty that eats up the fabrics and the core values of our nation; and thus a permanent threat to our national peace and stability.

Agriculture Cooperatives To Save Our Rural Subsistent Farmers, Reduce Poverty, Urban Migration, And  Feed Liberia?

Logically, since our rural subsistent farmers are more than 170 years behind in agriculture development, education and everything else, you can not start them off with 21st-century tractors and plowing machines. That would be a lost case in advance and waste of needed fund. And second, these rural subsistent farmers have survived more than 170 years on farming: thus in effect, they are the real professional farmers that must be targeted first and foremost in the government agriculture program before the urban proletariat which has lost touch with the tough rural life. Additionally, I think it would take us a very long time to equip our entire country with the adequate farm-to-market road network. And also with the acute shortage of fund, let realism guide our planning efforts.
In consideration of the above, I propose a model of “National Agriculture Cooperatives.” It is an institutionalized NGO quick impact concept, less costly for a start, but great results when properly implemented for continuity.

Imagine, our “partners” are today financing Agriculture Cooperatives in Liberia; were we in the 1970s, it certainly would be branded a dangerous communist idea of state farms. Well, the time has changed. So what I am suggesting here is a well-organized state pre-financing scheme directly to the individual subsistent farmers, but organized as groups in their villages and localities throughout the country. The government will provide seeds and simple, practical agriculture tools (power saws, cutlasses, hoes, rain outfits, etc); carry out training, rigorous supervision, and controls; collect the crops after harvest and be the sale agent; create centralized agro-industrial processing facilities to transform, conserve and add value to produce.  
Each group of community farmers will contribute a fraction of their earnings to the group account; and this money will serve to take care of the general community needs – maintaining schools, healthcare services, purchase farming tools, set up micro-finance, etc.

I have the fervent conviction and optimism that a genuine economic empowerment of our subsistent farmers through what they master the most will have a triple effect: boost their purchasing power  and the national economy, keep the youths from urban migration and attract the others to return to their villages and towns to help sustain a vibrant rural development.

Organizational Mechanisms

First and foremost, there must be a competent, robust and committed Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to pilot the program. And second, I suggest an organizational structure at 4 levels: Village, District, County and National.

Village level – There must be established a “ Farmers Union” which, with its officers shall watch over the affairs of its members; serves as a liaison between the MOA and District leadership; supervise the maintenance of the farming tools; that group saving is properly managed and the rest.

District level – This is where the first group of state actors for monitoring, purchasing, and commercialization, conservation, transformation, etc are stationed (MOA, LPMC, and MOI).  The District must also have a “Farmers Union” that will include all the District’s village farmers unions. The District should establish a general market day among the villages for the villagers to assemble and sell their surplus produce.

County-level -  The county headquarter is the big administrative and commercial center. It should be the main seat of the state actors (MOA, LPMC and MOI, and as such should have the major agro-industrial processing facilities – rice mill and cassava processing – depending on what is most productive in the county.

National level – This is the nerve center where major produce transformation and commercialization should take place. As the seat of government, the Ministries of Agriculture, Interior and Liberia Produce Marketing Corporation (LPMC) need to work closely together here and coordinate their roles. LPMC  must expand its activities from the “cash crop”  to include the collection and commercialization of all the produce of the subsistent farmers.

Well, there must also be a national “Farmers Union”; and the importance of these unions is to keep the Liberians aware that their rural subsistence farmers are in the forefront of the economy and national development.

Agro-Industrial Processing Facilities

As a starter, each county, District and village groupings should have some sort of state agro-industrial processing facilities  ( rice mill, cassava processing, and others) to transform and add value to produce. Such facilities could be managed by the LPMC or MOA. In any event, for these facilities to get a regular supply of produce both MOA and LPMC must set up easily accessible “collect and sale points” in every farming sector. Though there is no farm-to-market road network, most harvest period is during the dry season when most villages and towns should be accessible.
Well,  for the opponents of state intervention, the farmers in capitalist Europe are generously state-subsidized. So why not Liberia?  Besides, these folks also have agriculture cooperatives which permit farmers not to go around individually to look for a market for their wheat, corn, and others. We must stop being naïve; once our traditional agriculture sector is producing efficiently and managed effectively,  private investors will definitely come in.

Agriculture Training Institutes

There should be an Agriculture Training Institute in each county. Or should there be a college in each county, agriculture should be integrated into its curriculum?
And the government should provide scholarships on stringent conditions,  that during the vacations and after graduation, the recipients should return to their villages to assist their parents with farming activities.

Agriculture Statistics or Data

The government’s agriculture program will not be effective unless it is implemented with valid statistics on hand. For example: What is the population of subsistent farmers per county, district, village and up to the national level?  What crops are cultivated the most and where, etc? What is the volume of the various crops production per annum? Liberians need valid statistical data to better plan the development of the country or else we will always fail. And this does need millions of dollars or any partner financial support. We can do it ourselves at a very little cost if only we empower our Ministries and Agencies to do their jobs properly.

I, therefore, suggest that the MOA should publish an annual “Agriculture Journal” to give a regular picture of the agriculture sector; productions and earnings of our rural subsistent farmers and their difficulties, etc.    

Land rights And Boundaries Officially Demarcated

The Land Commission must establish a special “Rural Land Code” to protect the land rights of the traditional farmers. The villagers know (or at least in my village) the exact area's families have habitually cultivated and quarters in the town. Our people must be given official Land Certificates to protect them from national and international land usurpers.

And second, I appeal to the government to do an official boundary demarcation between our villages to avoid a future land conflict or war in Liberia. Luckily, most of our villagers know to the village boundaries. Again, I do not think this is necessarily a question of money, but simply the genuine will to properly organize our country for prosperity and protect the undeniable rights of all our people.
Lastly, in this very public manner, and as I have also done in 2006 (see: www.theperspective.org/article/0217200602.html “Liberian Criminal Justice System: In Retrospect and Reforms”) – I propose my voluntary service, advice and experience to the government on this subject matter, and including my proper career area as a security professional. It is only a small patriotic gesture.

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