Liberia: MOA gets USD10.5 million funding from World Bank for COVID-19 food security

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) says the World Bank has approved USD10.5 million funding support to the Government of Liberia (GOL) through the MOA for its COVID-19 food security, nutrition and livelihood plan aimed at mitigating the impacts of the coronavirus on the country's food security and livelihood, according to a news report by Daily Observer.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in Liberia, there are reports that smallholder farmers and other value chain actors are finding it difficult to increase production and access better markets due to lockdown restrictions.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture latest food security situation report, upon a recent request from the GOL, the funding was drawn from the Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) within the World Bank's funded Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization Project (STAR-P), which kicked off since 2019 that is under the direct supervision of the MOA.

The World Bank funding, the release said, will address several strategic areas to improve farmers' productivities which include supporting infrastructures (building irrigation structures and Roads rehabilitation), support the network of inputs delivery, the construction of warehouses for agricultural commodities, and the provision of grants to farmers to increase production and enhance mechanized farming among others.

The COVID-19 food security, nutrition, and livelihood plan of the MOA were formulated in March of this year and are aimed at mitigating Coronavirus's threats and impacts on the country's food security and livelihood. It primarily targets vulnerable and low-income families and local farmers.