Extension Providers

Major Extension Providers

The Department of Research, Extension and Rural Development (DRERD) is the most visibly decentralized department at the field level which faces similar staffing challenges as the MOA itself. According to the CAAS-Lib Synthesis Report (2007), the Department had only 20 of its 134 staff members deployed outside Monrovia, the Country’s capital. Although the MEAS Mission (2011) could not document the human resources capacity in the public and private extension service in Liberia, the report noted the shortage in extension personnel and recommended that the MOA hire at least another 70 qualified extension staff. The need for adding more Subject Matter Specialists (SMSs) who provide backstopping support to the field staff is critical given that at the present time a limited number of SMSs are actually located in the Department of Technical Services (DTS), which is a different unit from the DRERD.

Public Sector

The public sector is represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the University of Liberia, College of Agriculture, and other universities and research institutions around the country. These institutions provide extension services through various departments and institutes listed below:

Public Extension Institutions

• Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) www.moa.gov.lr  
  • Department of Regional Development, Research and Extension (DRDRE)

Public Research and Education Institutions

• Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI)
• Forest Development Authority (FDA)
• Liberia Rubber Research Institute (LRRI)
• University of Liberia, College of Agriculture
• Cuttington University
• Booker T. Washington’s (BTW) Vocational Education Institute
• Songhai Agro-Enterprise Center
• Department of Agricultural Extension and Education

Non-Public Sector

Private Sector Firms

The private sector in Liberia remains very underdeveloped and is still recovering from the war. The sector’s provision of extension and advisory services is noticeable in the areas of input supply to farmers; contract to provide extension services and technical advice to farmers associations, or in outgrower schemes method (e.g. a core farm or processing company that provides services and/or inputs to outgrower farms). In the outgrower scheme method, the private company works with the growers of a commodity to provide inputs on a contract basis, which is then paid off at the time these commodities are sold o the business. Most private sector suppliers of agricultural inputs are based in Monrovia and most of their businesses is conducted with NGOs who purchase inputs on behalf of farmers. 

Non-Governmental Organizations and other Donors

Prior to 1990, there were only four major international NGOs operating in Liberia (Partners for Productivity, Plan International, SOS Children Village and Experiment in International Living). Currently there are more than 34 local NGOs in the country, working in four sectors: agriculture and food production, business development, and education and sanitation. To support the Government effort in providing extension and advisory services to the largest possible number of farmers in Liberia, about 60 local and international NGOs currently assist farmers through funded projects in different counties and districts. These NGO are actively involved in implementing different strategies to increase agricultural productivity and farm income among small-scale farm households both in urban and rural areas. The New African Research and Development Agency (NARDA), a consortium of Liberian NGOs formed in 1987 coordinates the activities of NGOs, which operate through county networks. NGOs in Liberia have some potential but do not currently contribute to the research effort. Funds available for projects come from several donors and the most cited are USAID, FAO, IFAD, Gate & Melinda Foundation,   Some of the larger international NGOs include:

• ACDI-VOCA
• Action-Aid, International Relief and Development (IRD)
• Africare-Liberia
• BRAC
• CARE International
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• Concern Worldwide (CW)
• Danish Relief Council (DRC)
• German Agro Action (GAA)
• Human Development Foundation (HDF)
• Partners for Productivity
• Plan International
• Samaritan’s Purse

Farmer Based Organizations and Cooperatives

Producer organizations that group together smallholders and other forms of collective action (e.g., cooperatives) have proven to be effective in improving the performance of value chains and contributing to improved farmer welfare. In Liberia, famers in each county are organized into community, farmer and/or producer groups. The size of the group varies between thirty and approximately one hundred members. The County Extension Officer (CEO) is responsible for facilitating the organization and coordination of these groups. Producers are organized on the basis of the crops they produce. In Margibi County for example we have community groups such as cacao producers (mainly men), corn and peanut growers, rice and vegetable crops (cassava, pineapple) grower, and collective farming group. Some NGOs like BRAC use an integrated approach of providing micro-credit, inputs and advisory services to women. To implement their program, BRAC organizes women farmers as well as rural women into community groups. Other farmer based organizations include:

• Progressive Farmer Organization, provides hand tools and seed supplied by the FAO through the CEO to farmers
• Women in Peace Building Network specialized in producing vegetables (okra, long green bean etc.) on public land allocated by the MOA
• United Farmers Association, has been operational for 5 years and focus on producing roots and tubers

These organizations and many more throughout Liberia have the merit of facilitating the provision of services such as extension, credit, inputs and marketing and through economies of scale, increase market power which may prove elusive to a single farmer.