Zota District, Bong County – Below clear blue skies and the rhythm of conventional drums, tons of of villagers, native leaders, and friends gathered within the coronary heart of Kpaquelleh Clan, Shankpallai, Zota District, to witness a landmark second for rural agriculture in Liberia — the launch of a 100-acre upland rice harvest spearheaded by the Panta Satisfaction Basis (PPF) in partnership with Collective Influence Liberia (CIL).
The colourful ceremony introduced collectively Bong County Superintendent Loleyah Hawa Norris, neighborhood elders, and farmers, all celebrating what many described as a turning level for contemporary farming and neighborhood empowerment in Bong County.
This milestone comes at a crucial time when Liberia faces rising challenges in meals safety. Based on the World Meals Programme (WFP), greater than 2.4 million Liberians, about 47 % of the inhabitants are meals insecure, with rural communities being the toughest hit. The Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO) additionally experiences that Liberia imports almost 70 % of its rice, the nation’s staple meals, costing the financial system over US$200 million yearly. These figures underscore the pressing want for sustained native manufacturing and stronger agricultural techniques, a objective that initiatives just like the Collective Influence–PPF partnership are actively pursuing.
The rice harvest is a part of a broader initiative led by Collective Influence United (CIU) a worldwide social-impact enterprise pioneering systems-based agricultural and financial transformation beginning in Liberia. Via its Liberian companions, Collective Influence Liberia (CIL) and the Panta Satisfaction Basis (PPF), CIU integrates analysis, innovation, and funding to commercialize smallholder farming, strengthen native worth chains, and construct sustainable rural economies. The undertaking aligns with and accelerates the Boakai Administration’s ARREST Agenda, notably its pillars on Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Regulation, Training, Sanitation, and Tourism, with a strategic emphasis on meals safety, ladies’s empowerment, and job creation as pathways to nationwide renewal.
Talking on behalf of the partnership, Quanuquanei Alfred Karmue, Government Director of the Panta Satisfaction Basis, described the initiative as “a collective mannequin for nationwide transformation.”
“We’ve created a platform that pulls worldwide companions to a area many would in any other case overlook,” Karmue stated. “Our objective is to commercialize farming—beginning on the micro stage however with a worldwide imaginative and prescient. Whereas we is probably not there but, we’re producing one thing significant that may in the future attain markets past Liberia’s borders.”
Karmue added that this system is being applied in collaboration with Collective Influence United, the Basis for Girls, and several other different worldwide organizations dedicated to community-driven agricultural transformation and girls’s financial empowerment.
He additional emphasised that the partnership is buttressing the nationwide authorities’s agricultural improvement agenda, by complementing the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to advertise “farm-to-market connectivity, mechanized farming, and youth employment in agribusiness.”
Amos Cooper, Farm Supervisor of the Shankpallai upland rice undertaking, praised the collaboration and famous that the 100-acre web site has turn into a significant supply of employment and revenue for rural households.
“This farm has offered jobs for many individuals inside the neighborhood,” Cooper stated. “We’re dedicated to delivering tangible outcomes and name on the federal government of President Joseph Nyumah Boakai to supply larger assist to farmers throughout Liberia.”
Justina Mulbah, Head of the Micro-Farm Unit for Collective Influence, highlighted the undertaking’s constructive influence on ladies’s livelihoods.
“Girls from close by cities and villages are employed on the farm,” she defined. “This undertaking is empowering ladies and serving to them assist their households.”
In her remarks, Superintendent Norris lauded the CIU–PPF partnership for its sensible contribution to Bong County’s agricultural progress, emphasizing that such grassroots-driven initiatives are key to reaching the nationwide authorities’s imaginative and prescient of meals self-sufficiency. She credited Quanuquanei Karmue’s management for mobilizing neighborhood possession and demonstrating that native innovation can align successfully with authorities priorities.
“This is a vital contribution to our authorities’s agricultural agenda,” Norris stated. “I’m happy with these initiatives, and my administration stays dedicated to supporting efforts that empower ladies and enhance native productiveness, these are the issues President Boakai needs to see in Liberia.”
Earlier than the official harvest launch, a World Financial institution delegation visited a number of websites below the Panta program, together with lowland rice farms in Bellemue, Garmue, and Gbarnga-Siaquelleh cities in Panta District.
Naa Deder Tague, Geospatial Advisor, and Kelvin N. Doesiah, Agricultural Advisor with the World Financial institution, stated their go to aimed to achieve firsthand insights into the data-driven approaches being applied below this system and to evaluate the partnership’s alignment with the World Financial institution–funded STAR Mission.
The occasion concluded with a shared sense of optimism about the way forward for Liberian agriculture, as Collective Influence United, Panta Satisfaction Basis, and their native and worldwide companions proceed to show that inclusive, science-based farming can rework communities, create jobs, and cut back Liberia’s dependency on imported rice.
