LIBA to invest US$157.9m to boost food production on commercial scale

LIBERIA – The Liberia Business Association (LIBA), the umbrella Association for all indigenous Liberian business owners has announced that it will invest U.S.$157.9 Million in collaboration with other Liberian institutions in the food production sector to support its commercialization through the Liberia Food Production Program.

A press release signed by LIBA president, Mr. James M. Strother, said that after extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders in the national economy, it would pursue measures to encourage and stimulate greater interest in the food production business in the country.

The LIBA leadership has therefore called on all its members to become more creative and industrial as the private sector is the engine of economic growth in any nation.

According to the LIBA leadership, the Liberia Food Production Program requires the provision of some 18 types of intervention support services, as profit-making business ventures, on the production and post-harvest value-added chain of the food industry.

The program is believed to have the potential to create over 140,000 permanent and seasonal job opportunities.

In this regard the association has begun discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), as well as with the management of Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI), the Farmers Union Network of Liberia (FunL), the Liberia Bankers Association, authorities at the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Investment Commission (NIC) in an effort to ensure the success of the program.

In related developments, a Japanese investment delegation with interest in the country’s agriculture sector is expected to arrive in Liberia as guest of LIBA, to explore investment opportunities in the sector.

While in the country, the delegation will hold talks with a range of Liberian Government officials and visit a number of agriculture-related institutions.

They include the Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Internal Affairs, and Labor, as well as the NIC, LBA, FunL, and CARI, among others.