The Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives (LMDI), Liberia’s first ever nationally leading People To People media and Community Outreach blended organization and platform and Communications for Development (C4D) consultant on the World Bank and IFAD funded Ministry of Agriculture projects, STAR-P & RETRAP, has embarked on the 2023 round of its annual tour of the nation’s most difficult terrain counties with focus this year on massive public education and visibility on increased agricultural productivity and commercialization in the Agriculture sector of Liberia.

With support from the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development through the Ministry of Agriculture projects, the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation & Agribusiness Revitalization Program (STAR-P & and the Rural Economic Transformation Program (RETRAP, the tour is taking the LMDI to seven most hard to reach of the nation’s 15 counties. The counties are normally hard to reach because of the generally known bad roads leading to them during the rainy season of Liberia (April to October). The seven otherwise difficult terrain counties are Gbarpolu, Lofa, Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Maryland, Grand Kru, Sinoe and Rivercess.

On the tour which has already taken the LMDI to Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties, the LMDI is engaging busy farming communities, with specific focus on women and youths and parading tailored messages on farming to increase productivity and yields for commercialization beyond subsistence to feed Liberia and grow the economy.

The tour is conducting agriculturally tailored special sessions of two of the LMDI People to People engagement platforms, THE DIALOGUE with rural farmers being supported by World Bank and IFAD funded the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) STAR-P & RETRAP and TOMORROW’S PEOPLE Academic Challenge Competitions (LMDI-NACC) for secondary school youths with the aim to embed agriculture and its value into the students’ extra-curricular activities and psyche.

The tour having already covered Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties has seen the holding of special sessions of the LMDI STAR-P & RETRAP focused interactive public forums named and styled “FARMERS DIALOGUE at the busy farming towns of TOTOUELLEH in Gbarpolu and the combined city and towns of FOYA, HUNDONI and FOYA DUNDOO in Lofa County.

At TOTOQUELLEH, deep in the horn of Gbarpolu County, farmers there mainly of rice and oil palm spoke of receiving material support (inputs, seedlings and tools) from the MOA STAR-P, but quickly revealed that the process of access STAR-P grants and other kinds of support is largely unknown and those who manage to get through it and register wait too long for the support they get from the project.

At the forum, GABRIEL YIADOM, the STAR-P focal person in Gbarpolu County agreed to a slow process but said the situation leading to the slowness of materials (farming inputs and tools) delivery is being addressed and that urgent help is being garnered by the STAR-P to have registered farmers catered to in an improved manner.

He told the TOTOQUELLEH gathering of more than 100 farmers that as a matter of procedure, STAR-P does not help individual farmers and that all farmers wanting assistance from STAR-P must organize themselves into groups of at least 25 and register to get help.

YIADOM revealed to the sitting of the FARMERS DIALOGUE that TOTOQUELLEH will shortly receive a rice mill from STAR-P to serve all rice farmers at all farming communities with the chief and district. This was met with huge cheers arousing from the excitement of the farmers of TOTOQUELLEH.

In Lofa County, THE FARMERS DIALOGUE sat at HUNDONI, a small but strategically located farming community encompassing, FOYA city, FOYA DUNDOO and HUNDONI itself largely hearing testimonials of what STAR-P has done with and for them. Here several farmers based organizations, FBO’s and cooperatives revealed that STAR-P has invested hugely in the improvement of farming in the entire Foya district of Lofa County.

Madam Musu Taywah Blama of the Mayor River Women Initiative, Saah Bundoo from the Marcona River Rice Farm and Agricultural Services, Daniel Sammoi of the Yountonor Enterprise and Developmental Services and Steve Tamba of the Foya Rural Women Agricultural Cooperative, all spoke astoundingly commending of the support provided to them by the STAR-P and now RETRAP. They revealed that STAR-P has given out them grants up to three hundred thousand U.S. dollars to individual farming cooperatives in Foya.

They were especially appreciative and commending for the construction of dams for farming irrigation and the provision of power tractors and tillers all across farming communities of Foya district. They said STAR-P/RETRAP assistance has improved yields to commercial levels.

Also on the tour, the LMDI is conducting agricultural sensitive general knowledge sessions of the county level qualifiers of the Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives National Academic Challenge Competitions (LMDI-NACC) pop quizzing games for secondary schools in the counties covered by the tour.

In Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties, the government of Liberia owned and run Bopolu Central High School and the Voinjama Multilateral High school have secured their soace as champions of their respective counties to the regional qualifiers of the LMDI-NACC

Meanwhile the LMDI 2023 tour of Liberia’s most difficult terrain counties continues this week to all South Eastern Liberia counties of Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Maryland, River Gee Rivercess and Sinoe beginning early February. The tour will run for the whole of February with the aim to massively promote the increased agriculture productivity and commercialization and to publicize the works of the World Bank and IFAD funded Ministry of Agriculture projects, the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation & Agribusiness Revitalization Program (STAR-P & and the Rural Economic Transformation Program (RETRAP.

MONDAY JAN. 30, 2023, MONROVIA LIBERIA…The Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives (LMDI), Liberia’s first ever nationally leading People To People media and Community Outreach blended organization and platform and Communications for Development (C4D) consultant on the World Bank and IFAD funded Ministry of Agriculture projects, STAR-P & RETRAP, has embarked on the 2023 round of its annual tour of the nation’s most difficult terrain counties with focus this year on massive public education and visibility on increased agricultural productivity and commercialization in the Agriculture sector of Liberia.

With support from the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development through the Ministry of Agriculture projects, the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation & Agribusiness Revitalization Program (STAR-P & and the Rural Economic Transformation Program (RETRAP, the tour is taking the LMDI to seven most hard to reach of the nation’s 15 counties. The counties are normally hard to reach because of the generally known bad roads leading to them during the rainy season of Liberia (April to October). The seven otherwise difficult terrain counties are Gbarpolu, Lofa, Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Maryland, Grand Kru, Sinoe and Rivercess.

On the tour which has already taken the LMDI to Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties, the LMDI is engaging busy farming communities, with specific focus on women and youths and parading tailored messages on farming to increase productivity and yields for commercialization beyond subsistence to feed Liberia and grow the economy.

The tour is conducting agriculturally tailored special sessions of two of the LMDI People to People engagement platforms, THE DIALOGUE with rural farmers being supported by World Bank and IFAD funded the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) STAR-P & RETRAP and TOMORROW’S PEOPLE Academic Challenge Competitions (LMDI-NACC) for secondary school youths with the aim to embed agriculture and its value into the students’ extra-curricular activities and psyche.

The tour having already covered Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties has seen the holding of special sessions of the LMDI STAR-P & RETRAP focused interactive public forums named and styled “FARMERS DIALOGUE at the busy farming towns of TOTOUELLEH in Gbarpolu and the combined city and towns of FOYA, HUNDONI and FOYA DUNDOO in Lofa Countty.

At TOTOQUELLEH, deep in the horn of Gbarpolu County, farmers there mainly of rice and oil palm spoke of receiving material support (inputs, seedlings and tools) from the MOA STAR-P, but quickly revealed that the process of access STAR-P grants and other kinds of support is largely unknown and those who manage to get through it and register wait too long for the support they get from the project.

At the forum, GABRIEL YIADOM, the STAR-P focal person in Gbarpolu County agreed to a slow process but said the situation leading to the slowness of materials (farming inputs and tools) delivery is being addressed and that urgent help is being garnered by the STAR-P to have registered farmers catered to in an improved manner.

He told the TOTOQUELLEH gathering of more than 100 farmers that as a matter of procedure, STAR-P does not help individual farmers and that all farmers wanting assistance from STAR-P must organize themselves into groups of at least 25 and register to get help.

YIADOM revealed to the sitting of the FARMERS DIALOGUE that TOTOQUELLEH will shortly receive a rice mill from STAR-P to serve all rice farmers at all farming communities with the chief and district. This was met with huge cheers arousing from the excitement of the farmers of TOTOQUELLEH.

In Lofa County, THE FARMERS DIALOGUE sat at HUNDONI, a small but strategically located farming community encompassing, FOYA city, FOYA DUNDOO and HUNDONI itself largely hearing testimonials of what STAR-P has done with and for them. Here several farmers based organizations, FBO’s and cooperatives revealed that STAR-P has invested hugely in the improvement of farming in the entire Foya district of Lofa County.

Madam Musu Taywah Blama of the Mayor River Women Initiative, Saah Bundoo from the Marcona River Rice Farm and Agricultural Services, Daniel Sammoi of the Yountonor Enterprise and Developmental Services and Steve Tamba of the Foya Rural Women Agricultural Cooperative, all spoke astoundingly commending of the support provided to them by the STAR-P and now RETRAP. They revealed that STAR-P has given out them grants up to three hundred thousand U.S. dollars to individual farming cooperatives in Foya.

They were especially appreciative and commending for the construction of dams for farming irrigation and the provision of power tractors and tillers all across farming communities of Foya district. They said STAR-P/RETRAP assistance has improved yields to commercial levels.

Also on the tour, the LMDI is conducting agricultural sensitive general knowledge sessions of the county level qualifiers of the Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives National Academic Challenge Competitions (LMDI-NACC) pop quizzing games for secondary schools in the counties covered by the tour.

In Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties, the government of Liberia owned and run Bopolu Central High School and the Voinjama Multilateral High school have secured their soace as champions of their respective counties to the regional qualifiers of the LMDI-NACC

Meanwhile the LMDI 2023 tour of Liberia’s most difficult terrain counties continues this week to all South Eastern Liberia counties of Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Maryland, River Gee, Rivercess and Sinoe beginning early February. The tour will run for the whole of February with the aim to massively promote the increased agriculture productivity and commercialization and to publicize the works of the World Bank and IFAD funded Ministry of Agriculture projects, the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation & Agribusiness Revitalization Program (STAR-P & and the Rural Economic Transformation Program (RETRAP).