Liberia

Mr. Peter Taylor

Foundation Centre Liberia

Water and Sanitation (WASH)

Climate Change Adaptation

RAWDP partners with farmers to boost food security in Liberia
As farmers in Liberia's Montserrado County turn to urban gardens as a way to boost food security in the county, RAWDP has unfolded plans to train households involved in urban agriculture how to conserve water.  This effort is in tandem with on-going programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the country, which is currently targeting 5,000 urban residents of Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Bassa, Bong and Margibi counties, to encourage them to start market gardens or increase the amount of fruit and vegetables they grow on their farms.  Beyond participants lacking access to tools and some land, RAWDP insists that water is crucial for any form of urban agriculture.   The absence, lack of or mismanagement of water could exacerbate the extant short fall of urban domestic water supply in urban Liberia.  This is crucial for a country where over half of Monrovia's residents live on less than US$1 a day, according to the World Bank.  Plants commonly being cultivated are hot peppers, cabbage, calla, tomatoes, onions, beans and ground nuts.  Others include fruit and vegetables as their presence in people's diets is vital to reducing chronic malnutrition, which currently affects 45 percent of children under-five nationwide. Critical interventions by RAWDP are training in techniques such as rainwater harvesting, land management and Agroecology.  Most  activities would be concentrated in Johnsonville, a town on the outskirts of Monrovia.