Towards Food Security and Agricultural Self-Reliance: A Policy Study for the Rice Production in Liberia
Liberia is endowed with enormous opportunities to sustainably and sufficiently feed itself and even export the surplus of the products of vital arable fertile lands it possesses to other countries. Nevertheless, the Country’s catastrophic political turmoil that started in 1979 was the result of food insecurity and tempering the staple food of its people due to its unreasonable reliance on the importation of rice. The prime objective of the economy is to fight hunger in which absence the people would be angry then it may lead unwanted consequences. It is recorded that Liberia spends more than 1/3 of its national budget in rice importation every year amounting to US$250 million. Hence, in order to have a lasting and sustainable solution to food insecurity in the Country, it must consider the following triad: (a) Capacity building for mechanized farming (b) Setting up government-operated rice farms in each county or at least in each of nation’s four geographic regions and, (c) Empowering the local farmers and AGREPRENEURS. Let it be assumed that out of 1/3 of the fiscal budget in tone of US$ 250 million, US$ 25 million every year dedicated committed and fully implemented in the local rice production by selecting one county in every fiscal year, in fifteen years, the country will have 15 operated and productive mega rice farms and, that will have a positive trickle-down effect on the economy by creating thousands of jobs in addition to reducing unsystematic, unplanned and disorganized urbanization that does more harm than good to our economy. Agriculture should be the THEME of Liberia’s economy; there is no sustainable way for it to thrive economically and development wide without taking a keen interest in the sector. Therefore, this work aims at looking into causes of food insecurity in Liberia. It also strives to provide some policy recommendations on how to trim and mitigate the problem.