Liberia – Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises (LIFE) II
Smallholder Cocoa Farmers Increase Incomes
In Liberia, ACDI/VOCA works to address the challenges faced by the country’s smallholder cocoa farmers.
USDA has awarded ACDI/VOCA a monetization contract to continue the Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises (LIFE) program in Liberia. The three-year LIFE II program will continue activities in Bong, Nimba and Lofa counties, and expand to include Grand Gedah, River Gee and Gbarpolu counties.
With the proceeds from the monetization of 8,800 MT of rice and 2,950 MT of hard red winter wheat the program will:
- Train cocoa farmers in productivity, business skills and crop diversification
- Establish nurseries and renew trees
- Strengthen cocoa marketing by farmer organizations
- Improve access to capital
Training Sessions Increase Productivity
ACDI/VOCA and its partner, the Sustainable Tree Crop Program (STCP), will conduct farmer field schools (FFS), Farming as a Business trainings and crop diversification trainings, which will improve cocoa productivity and quality and enhance the livelihoods of smallholder cocoa farmers. FFS topics include tree and shade management, disease control, quality management and social messages on gender equality and prevention of child labor.
Farmers will learn to:
- Evaluate the productivity of their farms and maximize revenues through sound crop selection and intercropping
- Make improved marketing decisions
- Establish operational structures in support of joint marketing activities
ACDI/VOCA will also provide training in crop diversification, including improved production techniques and selection of appropriate seed varieties.
Farmers Benefit from Improved Planting Material
The LIFE II program will introduce tested and proven improved cocoa hybrids from the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI)other Liberian seed gardens or neighboring countries to support nursery development and tree renewal. Farmers will benefit from access to improved planting material.
LIFE II will work with both established nursery managers and new FFS graduates to develop and manage the nurseries. The program will continue to provide technical support to previous FFS graduates in Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties. The program will promote the development of nurseries into independent businesses that will supply interested farmers with improved planting material.
Associations Empower Farmers
LIFE II will form new farmer organizations and continue to work with the farmer associations established under LIFE I in order to ensure their sustainability. The program will improve farmer association access to price and other market information and ensure they understand how to benefit from this information. The program will build on established relationships with rural radio stations and cell phone network providers to ensure that timely market information is available to the organizations.
To improve cocoa quality and ensure that farmers receive corresponding premiums on their prices, grading must be done by farmer associations. LIFE II will provide material and equipment such as scales and humidity meters to associations with established management plans for these resources. The program will work with qualifying associations to construct warehouses, solar dryers and fermentation boxes, and develop security and maintenance plans for of all LIFE II-provided resources. Overall, ACDI/VOCA will work with farmers, farmer organizations, traders, exporters, quality control/graders and international buyers to establish strong, sustainable market linkages.
Farmers Access Improved Financing
LIFE II will establish and improve access to financial resources by shifting the source and management of credit from seasonal commodity buyers to a rural financial service provider that farmers have a direct stake in and that is managed by the farmers, a private sector institution or both jointly. Initially, the program will establish a rural savings and credit program that will provide access to short term loans, building upon a structure promoted and successfully implemented by several other NGOs in Liberia, referred to as a Village Savings and Loan Club. LIFE II will continue its coordination with the financial and private sectors to increase their understanding of the business opportunities for farmers and to facilitate the adaptation of products to the smallholder cocoa farming context.
LIFE II will expand its piloted activities under LIFE I to create an association-level warehouse receipts program (WRP) that will help associations and farmers bulk their cocoa and other produce and provide immediate access to credit at harvest time. WRP records will become important documentation to improve access to private sector capital.
For more information contact Mark Stevens at mstevens@acdivoca.org.
Updated: 07/11
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