FAO Country Rep. Alarms Over High Level Of Food Insecurity In Liberia

–Wants All Hands On Deck To Increase Productivity

By: Moses M. Tokpah

editor@news.throngtalk.com

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The Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Liberia, Bintia Stephen Tchicaya has alarmed over the high level of food insecurity rate the country is currently faced with.

Speaking to reporters at the National Agriculture Fair held at the Booker Washington Institute in Kakata City, Margibi County recently, Madam Tchicaya said the country’s food insecurity level is as high as 38%.

She explained that this level of food insecurity rate is quite high for a country like Liberia that has the population of 5 million people thereby expressing the need for more work to be done.

“So, it was to tell the Liberian farmers thank you, but also to tell them that the road ahead is still bumping because there are still some people going to bed with only one meal a day” she asserted.

The FAO’s Country Representative acknowledged that a lot has been done, but there is still more to be done and going forward; the country should look at innovation, technology, IT, and Artificial Intelligence to make agriculture easier and make it palatable for the youth.

Meanwhile, Madam Bintia Stephen Tchicaya wants the involvement of everyone including policy makers, development partners and every Liberian citizen including the youths so as to increase productivity.

According to her, already the president has set the tone that Agriculture should be the backbone of the Liberian economic.

She continued that we are fortunate that we will now have the National Agriculture Development Plan and we will very soon have the National Development Plan which will be the backbone of economic development in the country.

Madam Tchicaya mentioned that the policy makers should make the necessary policies while development partners should do their part in bringing the technology, the knowledge, and also the best practices to Liberia.

She added that the citizens also have to play their part by working harder and also making sure that when resources are given to them, they use those resources wisely so that they can extend the life of whatever it is that they are doing so that it becomes a business for them.

Madam Tchicaya recommended that agriculture should be seen in the country as a business and the youths should engage in agriculture not necessarily by farming, but by working along the agriculture value chain through providing services to farmers and producers so that they too are making a livelihood out of the agriculture sector.

However, the FAO Country Rep. lauded Liberians for their high level of involvement in the agriculture sector stating that this is one of the countries that she was most impressed to see Liberians from different works of life being involved in agriculture.

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