-He wants 10% but only 1.9% allocated in 2018/2019 budget
By Augustine Octavius
Liberian Agriculture Minister, Dr. Mogana Flomo has called for increment in the allotment for agriculture in the draft national fiscal budget currently before the Legislature.
The draft national budget for the 2018/2019 fiscal year is US$488.8 million, with US$8.3 million being appropriated for agriculture.
This amounts to 1.69% of the total national budget of Liberia, while 62.1%. goes to recurrent expenditures the bulk of which pays for huge salaries and allowances and logistics for top officials.
But Agriculture Minister Dr. Flomo is proposing that Liberia’s budget for Agriculture makes up 10% of the budget, in order to improve the livelihood of the ordinary people in line with the CDC government’s pro-poor agenda.
The Liberian Agriculture Minister made the call recently at the opening of a two-day technical review of the Liberia Agriculture Sector Investment Plan organized by the Ministry of Agriculture.
It was held in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Union.
US$5.3 million was appropriated in the fiscal year 2017/2018 recast budget.
According to the draft budget, “key focus” for the agricultural sector is the rice value-chain development.
The Agriculture Minister told the forum that the extraction and exportation of minerals from Liberia did not improve the lives of the ordinary people over the years.
Dr. Flomo pointed out that government relies heavily on agriculture to improve the lives of the people and urged international partners to increase their assistance.
In remarks, the Resident Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Mariatou Njie, said the FAO will continue to work with Liberia on the implementation a comprehensive investment plan for food security not only in Liberia, but the West African region.
She said the discussion must ensure that the investment plan is relevant to meeting of the regional and global initiatives such as the ECOWAS ZERO Hunger and the Grow Africa Initiative
The FAO representative added that in implementing this plan will require the political will of Liberian leaders and people for them to ensure self sufficiency in food production.
The meeting was graced by representatives of the development partners, civl society organizations, farmers, cooperatives.