Liberia: African Development Bank Group Approves $5.12 Mn Financing for Emergency Food Production Program

The African Development Bank Group's Board of Directors has approved funding for Liberia's Emergency Food Production Program. This paves the way for the government to assist farmers in increasing climate-resilient food production and mitigating the impact of Ukraine's ongoing conflict.

The funding includes a grant of $2.28 million and a loan of $2.84 million from the Bank Group’s Transition Support Facility.

Overall agricultural productivity, however, is low. This is because of weak basic infrastructure, including farm equipment and inadequate farm-to-market roads. There is also limited application of fertilizers and pesticides and inadequate food storage capacity. The civil conflict the country experienced between 1989 and 2003 and the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2015 compounded challenges even further.

Nearly 50% of Liberia’s population is food insecure, and childhood malnutrition is persistent. Currently, 35% of children under 5 are stunted, and 15% are underweight.

The food production program in Liberia is part of sector budget support under the African Development Bank’s African Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF) (http://bit.ly/3wGWi3O). This facility is designed to increase climate-resilient food production for Africa’s farmers in the wake of global shocks like the war in Ukraine and rising fuel and fertilizer prices.

The African Emergency Food Production Facility will provide 20 million African smallholder farmers with certified seeds. It will increase access to agricultural fertilizers and enable them to rapidly produce 38 million tons of food – a $12 billion increase in food production in just two years.

The Liberia program—which will be implemented from 2022 to 2024—will enable the government to provide direct, smart subsidies (that create incentives for private sector investment in the inputs market without distorting the market), to vulnerable farmers. The financing will also enable the government to facilitate farmers’ access to improved seeds and fertilizers.

“We welcome this timely and highly awaited approval, which will improve food and nutrition security in Liberia and the regulatory environment for climate-smart agriculture,” said the African Development Bank's country manager for Liberia, Benedict Kanu. He added: “With healthy Liberians being arguably the greatest asset the country can have, hardly any other priority could be more pressing than addressing food insecurity to safeguard Liberians' calorie and nutrition needs and protecting their human development.”

The African Emergency Food Production Facility has already benefitted 26 countries in Africa with 26 programs worth $1.257 billion.

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