- PHOTO: Ministers Cooper and Tweah with grant recipients on stage during the ceremony
By Edwin M. Fayia, III, fayiaedwin@gmail.com
It was weekend of jubilation when more one hundred Liberian agribusinesses were proud recipients of more than US$295,751.00 financial grants intended to assist them boost production and maximize sustained profits, development, growth and progress.
The venue was the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in the Monrovia suburb of Congo Town, where its Minister Jeanine Cooper has made moving from subsistence farming to mechanize farming one of her major goals in her plan to boost agricultural development and increase food security.
Officials of the Project Management Unit Agriculture of the MOA and the World Bank in June 2020 launched the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization Project (START Up) intended to assist the Small Medium Enterprises in Liberia.
START Up aims to support Liberian Agribusinesses in order to minimize the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic on their businesses and sought to stimulate the Agriculture SME landscape, promising business models, new innovations and market potential as well as ultimate harnessing economic growth.
As a result of the efforts, new business opportunities were identified, new start-ups were created and existing MSME and SMEs are been strengthened thus creating growth in SMEs sector of the country.
Some locally made agricultural produce
Besides, the agriculture initiative would also allow Liberia to recover economic losses due to COVID19 pandemic and it is expected that such growth will result in increased sales which will translate into job creation.
The START Up project managers pointed out that the objective is to ensure despite of the COVID19 pandemic, food security, nutrition and livelihood plan targeting the formal and informal agribusinesses, aggregators and inputs service providers and agro dealers an amount up to US$10,000 on sixty to forty percent matching grants basis.
The MOA and START Up officials also explained that an inter-ministerial panel that consisted of the ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Finance and Development Planning as well as Ministry of State Without Portfolio conducted the evaluation of those agribusinesses that applied for the grants.
The agriculture project officials also disclosed that forty six formal businesses passed the evaluation while sixty three persons in the informal sector successfully won the matching grants provided by the World Bank.
Speaking at the presentation of the grant checks to the qualified beneficiaries, Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel Tweah urged the Liberian agribusinesses to work overtime and proved critics especially the local banks that Liberians are capable of doing genuine business.
Minister Tweah also cautioned the recipients that the financial grants were not intended to buy cars, support girlfriends and live elaborate lifestyles in the country.
Finance Minister Tweah also disclosed that the next phase of concentration on the part of the Liberian Government and support partners will be the massive rubber sector of the Liberian economy.
Minister Tweah however admitted that Liberia is not yet out of the woods in term of economic stability though fantastic efforts are been exerted by all the major players in the Liberian economy during the course of the three years of the CDC led administration.
He further revealed that the Liberian Government through practical economic policies has succeeded in the stabilization of the foreign exchange rate for the past several months in the country.
“If you all do good and genuine business and succeed in mass production of your commodities, more sustained supports are in the pipeline for our Liberianization of our agribusiness sector in our country,” Minister Tweah stressed.
In remarks, Agriculture Minister Jeanine Milly Cooper assured the recipients that all efforts will be exerted to ensure the START Up project continues to support all Liberian farmers in all sectors of the Liberian economy.
Minister Cooper reminded the grant recipients to demonstrate hard work, sincerity and honest business transactions in order to generate profits and enhance mass production of their commodities.
“We all at this special occasion are indeed aware that agriculture is the genuine engine of socioeconomic growth and Liberians in general embrace agriculture as our solid back bone to grow our economy in the years ahead,” Minister Cooper emphasized.
For their part, National Project Coordinator Ansu Abraham Metzg and Director of the Program Management Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture Ansu Sekou Konneh urged the recipients to be very keen in the effective and honest use of the funds on their various projects in the country.
In separate response, the agribusiness heads extended thanks and appreciation to the MOA and World for the provisions of the critically needed funds intended to enhance to development and growth of their Liberian businesses in the country.