By Emmanuel Mafelah,mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
GBARNGA, Liberia- Dozens of smallholder farmers in Bong, and Nimba Counties have extolled Solidaridad Liberia for its valuable services to improving the Cocoa& Oil-Palm sectors of the country.
Solidaridad is a Non-governmental organization operating in five (5) continents through Regional expertise centers (RECs). In West Africa, Solidaridad operates in Cote D’lvoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
On June 14, 2019, the organization launched two major programs to boost the sustainable production of cocoa and oil-palm in the Country.
The Programs, dubbed the cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP) and the Sustainable West Africa Oil-Palm Programme (SWAPP, are expected to support over 42,000 cocoa and oil-palm famers in Liberia to improve their incomes and livelihoods.
The 3.8 million Euros projects, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, is expected to end December 2021.
Addressing a team of journalists recently during a two day tour in Bong and Nimba Counties, several beneficiaries of Solidaridad cocoa and Oil-Palm Projects hailed the agricultural group for the technical and material supports to smallholder farmers operating in the two sectors.
“We have been trained by Solidaridad Liberia and partners how to manage our farms properly in term of getting sufficient yield so as to support our kids in schools. Since this organization arrival in the country 2016, there have been tremendous improvement in the Cocoa and Oil-Palm farming systems, the local farmers told journalists in Nimba and Bong Counties.”
In separate interviews, the Bleyepea, Gonnon Tonwin and Belemu smallholder farmers in Bong and Nimba said following the organization’s intervention to the sectors, they continue to receive seedlings and training programs from other local agriculture entities through Solidaridad oil palm and cocoa projects in Liberia.
Our correspondent who visited some of the farming sites in the two counties says, majority of the local farmers benefiting from Solidaridad’s projects in the three counties are females, struggling to compete with their male-counterparts in the agriculture sector.
Also speaking, Kpalamah Agro Business Enterprise CEO, Sylvester Kpai Sr. in Nimba County at the same time thanked Solidaridad for the numerous support in the cocoa and oil-palm sectors; adding that the organization has helped to upgrade their production from three thousand (3,000) seedlings to about ten thousand (10,000) improved seedlings of Tenera Oil palm Nursery.
He said the enterprise was founded July 24, 2014 to introduce new technology in term of hybrid oil palm seedlings which is a commercial business in the oil-palm sector.
The Kpalamah Agro Business Enterprise Boss recited that his institution is rendering services to local farmers in Bong, Grand Bassa and Maryland Counties who don’t have the technical know how about pruning, layout and nursery creation among others.
In a related development, Mr. Cyrus Saygbe, Program Manager for Oil-Palm at Solidaridad Liberia described the media as a major partner in Nation building.