The Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA) has begun harvesting cocoa on its 72-acre farm located in Compound #2, Grand Bassa County with a short-term plan to empower local farmers to boost their production levels.
In recent months, the regulator has been engaged with ensuring that all of its farms or farmlands are practically brought back to life as part of effectuating the government’s national development roadmap of which agriculture revitalization is inclusive.
LACRA deputy director general Musa Konneh, being in charge of operations and technical services, disclosed that LACRA has cocoa, coffee and oil palm farms in Grand Bassa, Bong, and Lofa counties.
He explained that the agency’s long-term agenda is to massively produce and export the cash crops, having first strengthened the sector by enabling local farmers bolster their capacity to produce more.
Sharing cocoa seedlings to farmers is expected to result in getting rid of obsolete farms owned by local residents to allow for new farms to flourish and produce sufficiently – all this geared towards making the agro-sector viable for economic prosperity of the country, he said.
Konneh noted that notwithstanding, the road to Compound #2 has been a serious impediment to agricultural activities, including the work on LACRA’s farm, due to its deplorable state.
This usually makes crops to perish, contributing to poverty, the LACRA official observed.
But deputy director-general Konneh expressed confidence the road to the cocoa farm will be upgraded for easy access to the area and improved official and economic activities.
“We are trying to recondition the road not only to benefit the government, but also in the interest of the community dwellers. When the road is good, you will find people going in there and economic activities in this sector will actually be boosted,” he said.
Interestingly, his institution has a huge facility in Bong County such as the 518-acre farmland, from which 100 acres is being planted with oil palm and coffee.
Apart from regulating the agro sector, LACRA has the mandate to provide training for Liberian farmers and to subsidize their programs with the aim to develop the agricultural sector and set the economy on par with other nations whose gross domestic products have climbed due to quantity and quality production, and sale of cocoa and other export commodities alike.
