Some efforts under way to save Liberia’s rainforest from being depleted further
By Tokpa Tarnue- tarnue82@gmail.com
VOINJAMA, Liberia- A group of four brothers farmers in based in has underscored the need for forest conservation.
The four brothers who are all graduates of the Lofa County Community College (LCCC) in Voinjama told the media recently, that if farmers across Lofa County and Liberia at large can engage in lowland farming, this country will benefit greatly from its rich tropical rainforest.
Liberia has the largest reserve of tropical rainforest in this region.
According to the head of the group Christopher Mawolo, they cultivated over 20 hectares of lowland with cabbage and watermelon to encourage other farmers stay away from the forest for farming activities.
“Lots of people still think that the upland which includes the forest is richer more than the lowland for their farmer activities but the true is that the lowland is very rich for all our farming proposes have vowed to stay out of the forest for the benefit of their unborn children,” Mr. Mawolo said.
“We are dedicated to doing this but there are challenges that we are faced with which include the bad road from our farm to the market in Voinjama and even when we get to Voinjama onward to Monrovia is another serious challenge my bro; after our recent successful harvest, we engage a driver who charged us ($100,000LD) one hundred thousand Liberian Dollars and we were force to agree because we had no other option,” Mr. Mawolo further stressed.
More support is need from the Liberian government to his group and other farming groups in and out of Lofa County.
Mr. Mawolo specifically named the areas of farms to market roads rehabilitations, better markets ad farming implements; something he believes will encourage more farmers to engage in the lowland farming.
The Liberian Government and several partners have been working across the country to strengthen forest and biodiversity conservation and improve community livelihoods.
Fauna & Flora International, the Government of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority, the Government of Guinea’s Nzerekore Forestry Center, development partners and local non-government partners and communities to promote innovative collaborative management approaches in the Ziama-Wonegizi-Wologizi Transboundary Forest Landscape.
As part of their efforts, over 1,000 local farmers have graduated from various Farmer filed School (FFI) Programs in Lofa County in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
These farmers were taught on other means of framings especially the conservation method which is an approach where soil management practices are reduced to a minimum, thus preserving the soil properties and nature biodiversity.
This type of farming includes a set of practice which conserves the soil, water and soil moisture among others.
Survey conducted by the local community Radio Kintoma reporters have shown that about 90% of these farmers after graduation are still practicing this type of farming, which is a plus for preserving the forest.