Bong County, Liberia – “We don’t have control over pricing our goods, so we often lose,” said John Fahn, the Kpatolee Agriculture Development Cooperative chairperson. This cooperative of 68 members – 53 women and 15 men is engaged in low-land rice, cassava, and vegetable farming.
Desperately in need of a warehouse to store their produce after harvesting, Fahn said they must rely on businessmen who have warehouses to buy their goods immediately after harvesting otherwise they lose.
He said in many cases buyers negotiate prices far lower than what the products are worth, and farmers are left with no choice but to sell to them.
Fahn added that taking the goods to Monrovia from Bong is equally expensive because there is no guarantee that they will be bought on time before they lose value or that they will reach Monrovia in good condition enough to beat the market price value.
During a recent interaction with a team from UNDP led by the Resident Representative a.i. Anthony Ohemeng-Boahmah, Fahn explained that the Kpatolee Agriculture Development Cooperative, established in 2018 as a Farmer-Based Organization (FBO), was upgraded to the status of a cooperative in 2023 when receiving support from the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) managed by UNDP.
The ACDP is a flagship initiative of the Government of Liberia aimed at reducing poverty and inequality between urban and rural communities in the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach areas.
The team visited two cooperatives being supported by the programme – Kpatolee Agriculture Development Cooperative and Bong Kuka’tonon Cooperative in Bong County, a central region of Liberia.
“We were disorganized or disarranged with nothing like unity among us…we had no specific place to be found and lacked sufficient education to operate as a business to reduce poverty,” said Fanh.
To reduce food insecurity, Fahn said the cooperative aims to upgrade from subsistence farming to mechanized farming. He mentioned that the support of the ACDP has added value to their cooperative as they are now recognized.
Reiterating Fanh’s comments, the Chairperson of the Bong Kuka’tonon Cooperative, Esther Giddings noted that with support provided under the ACDP, both cooperatives have transformed into legal entities trusted by members to do business with.
Giddings said Kuka’tonon Cooperative with 76 members, 40 of whom are women, now has a fully functional bank account.
“Although the cooperative has no members with disabilities, we welcome anyone interested in joining us,” she noted.
Showcasing their produce, excited members spoke about the achievements of the cooperative since they received farming equipment such as a tractor and trailer, rice milling machine, rice trasher, cassava milling machine and in addition solar power boreholes and water kiosks.
With all this equipment, the members say farming has become easier and more enjoyable as the post-harvest process is no longer stressful.
“Our women no longer walk long distances to get water in the community because now through the ACDP, the government of Liberia is erecting solar power boreholes,” explained Alaska B. Williams, a member of the cooperative.
The cooperatives are currently building offices which include a storeroom for their produce, a conference hall for meetings and an office.
“UNDP trusted us, and we are grateful because this is a lifetime investment even for our children,” said ecstatic Giddings.
The UNDP Resident Representative a. i. Anthony Ohemeng-Boamah and his team were heartily welcomed with chants of joy while addressing both communities.
Ohemeng-Boamah stressed that there was no reason for Liberia to be in poverty because it has the resources needed to improve the livelihood of the people.
He encouraged the cooperatives to make positive use of the support they receive to be able to continue working on their farms beyond the project cycle.
Both cooperatives are contributing towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2 which are No Poverty and Zero Hunger respectively.
Overall, the cooperatives contribute towards the achievement of SDGs 5 – Gender Equality, 10 – Reduced Inequalities, and 12 – Responsible Consumption Production.
The ACDP was launched in 2022 by the Government of Liberia with an initial USD 3 million funding out of USD 100 million that was committed for the first three years.
UNDP serves as the implementing partner to this programme and has supported the distribution of machinery, equipment, farming tools, seedlings and other supplies and accessories to 14 farmer cooperatives in six counties across Liberia including Bomi, Bong, Gbarpolu, Lofa, Nimba and Rivercess.
Over One hundred and Forty thousand United States dollars (20,000 USD to each cooperative) has also been disbursed to selected farmer cooperatives as operational expenses.