LISGIS and MOA officially lunched Liberia Agriculture Census in Monrovia.

The Liberia Institute of Statistic and Geo-Information Services in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, FAO and other international have officially lunched the 2023 Liberia Agriculture Census in Monrovia.
Lunched under the theme “Bridging the gap in Liberia’s Agricultural sector is a must and not an option” is the second agriculture census since 1971 and the first digital system ever in the history of Liberia.

The vital initiative undertaken by the government of Liberia is aimed at gathering the comprehensive and up to-date date on the agricultural sector and bridge the data gap in Liberia’s Agriculture sector. 
Speaking at the lunching ceremony at the Monrovia City Hall, LISGIS Acting Director General; Lawrence A. George said the 2023 Liberia Agriculture Census lunch comes at the time when there is national governance transition and as such the new agriculture datasets and characteristics of the sector will be used to enhance the agriculture pillar of the new national development plan.
He called on Liberian farmers to work closed with LISGIS emulators across the fifteen counties in providing accurate information that will enable the MOA to work with in the nearest future to revamp the agriculture sector of Liberia.

Lawrence A. George told the gathering that as a means of ensuring that all sub-sector of the agriculture sector are covered in the nation-wide data collection all agriculture-related activities, including crop production, livestock, forestry and aquaculture are expected to be consider under the project, furthermore the census is expected to target all agricultural establishments, including households, smallholder farmers, farmer-based organizations, commercial farmers, Agriculture concessions, Agriculture cooperatives, private farms and communal farms.

He explains that will be data gathered during the process will be analyzed and facilitate policy perspectives geared towards improvements in meeting the challenges identified by development partners, including, the FAO which stressed the need to develop policies aimed at “moving the country from subsistence to sufficiency”.  It points out that the country’s agricultural sector is dominated by traditional subsistence farming systems mainly in the uplands, and characterized by labor intensity, shifting cultivation, with low technologies and productivity.

The LISGIS Acting Director General pointed out that the need to increase productivity and incomes of Liberia’s subsistence farmers by transforming them into commercial farmers through the adoption of new techniques and technologies, improving access to seeds, fertilizers and other inputs, diversifying their enterprise and strengthening linkages  to output markets, restoring value chains and increasing community and private sectors. 

 The census is being implemented by the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information services LISGIS in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture MOA, with funding from the World Bank in the tone of USD $3.61M and a short-time employment of approximately 1,047 persons in Liberia.