PHOTO: Farmer Othello Monweh of Grand Bassa County
By Reuben Bier, reubenbier@gmail.com
BUCHANAN, Liberia- A subsistence farmer, 10 miles from Buchanan in a village call Tay Town, literally mourns his once prosperous but now extinct crops victimized by the heavy downpour of rains in rural Liberia.
Othello Monweh, who believes in agriculture as a vibrant source of livelihood, now realizes the power of the much talked about “Climate change” against food security.
“I now believe climate change is another disease to kill us like Ebola or COVID-19”, Othello lamented.
He said, on every visited he made on the farm, the rain would turn green leaves yellow and then a whole plant would die. “This pattern has cleared the whole farm off crops,” Othello said.
A subsistence farmer like Othello lives scarcely on the little he manages to plant. He said he and other villagers who are farmers are now worried about the livelihood of their families including the burden to support children in school.
Liberia, a heavily dependent nation on imported food, has been going through rice shortage on it market. Rice, the West African nation’s staple food, is one of the political commodities capable of threatening the peace of the nation.
43 years ago ( 1979-2022), Liberia experienced bloody protest for increase in the price of 100-pound bag of rice from $22 to $26 for what then Agriculture Minister Florence Chenoweth called an inducement for the rice farmers to stay on the farm and produce rice as both substance and cash crops.
Mr. Monweh has lost his mixed crops: Okra, Bitter Boil, Cassava, Corns, cucumbers and Potato greens, but not quiet.
Now, he wants the government of Liberia to educate farmers on climate change sensitivity in order to encourage local farmers to keep on farming.
There are some projects in Liberia on climate smart agriculture mainly taken on by FAO funding, but climate change phenomena still remain surface discussion, mainly for urban communities. In Tay Town, the home of Farmer Monweh, 1 out of 10 residents at least know what climate change is. In context, climate change still remains a strange discussion among farmers in Liberia.
A country like Liberia, which is endowed with fertile soil year-round, needs robust investment in a community-centered agriculture program, with climate change realities taking center stage in public awareness through the existing huge community radio presence in Liberia.
Recently, the Deputy Resident Representative for Program at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Louis Kuupen acknowledged the important role of small holder farmers.
He emphasized that when local agricultural farmers are empowered, they can manage resources sustainably and contribute significantly in addressing rice supply in Liberia,