Tools Assessment
March 2019 – PARM through the invitation of the Ministry for Agriculture (MoA) participated in Liberia’s high-level Agricultural Coordination Committee (ACC) meeting organized on Thursday 28 March 2019. The meeting which aimed to bring international and national stakeholders together for cogent deliberations on agricultural sector issues in Liberia saw the participation of the PARM Technical Specialist who presented the final outcomes of PARM’s joint-process in Liberia.
Liberia officially joined PARM in May 2016 – a decision to ensure the integration of agricultural risk management (ARM) components into national strategies and investment plans. The joint-process with the Government of Liberia, under the administration of the MoA and related agencies, led to the implementation of four key activities: 1) a comprehensive risk assessment study (RAS); 2) a national stakeholders’ workshop; 2) a general capacity development (CD1) training on ARM; and 4) feasibility studies on two ARM tools – one on improving access to agricultural risk information and the other on integrating ARM capacity development training into the extension service strategy – to be published by June 2019.
The RAS played a significant role in identifying the three priority risks facing Liberia’s agricultural sector: 1) high precipitation/floods 2) post-harvest losses, and 3) crop pests and diseases. It also generated and increased access to evidence-based knowledge to support agricultural development in Liberia. Similarly, the national stakeholders’ workshop facilitated the identification of the two ARM tools on which the feasibility studies were conducted.
Coming this far, the ACC meeting on 28th March 2019 was a great opportunity for the PARM Secretariat and the country-partners in Liberia to count the successes from the joint-process on ARM, to deliberate on the feasibility of the two ARM tools, and to solicit partnerships to integrate ARM components into the Liberia Agriculture Sector Investment Program (LASIP II).
The meeting began with MoA’s remarks on the importance of the joint-process in the country, followed by the PARM Technical Specialist’s presentation of key achievements and outcomes of the process. Presentations were also made on the recently finalized ARM tools feasibility study – outlining the key findings and investment plans. In attendance were local/international development partners and Government bodies, who discussed the technical and financial partnerships for supporting the implementation of the ARM tools towards agricultural development, food security and poverty reduction in Liberia.
Additional information about PARM processes and outcomes in Liberia can be found here.