Africa Rice has commenced the one-week training on farm machinery operation in Liberia. The training is one of the activities designed under the EU-funded DeSIRA Integrated Rice-Fish Farming System (IRFFS) project to strengthen food and nutrition security in Liberia.
Twenty farmers from across Margibi are participating in the week-long training. According to the Agro-processing and Mechanization Expert at AfricaRice, Dr. Roger Ahouansou, the training focuses on imparting farmers with knowledge on the usage of small-scale farming machinery.
“AfricaRice wants to empower the farmers, build the capacity on how to use land preparation equipment and post-harvest equipment- such as the rice mill, the rice thresher. All of these are meant to enhance the farmers’ capacity that will increase production, therefore, strengthening food and nutrition security,” he said.
Dr. Ahouansou explained that Africa Rice selected farmers based on their performance records under the EU-funded DeSIRA Integrated Rice-Farming System (IRFFS) project.
“We chose the best performing farmers. We have our focal person in each of the implementing counties, and he was helpful in the selection process,” he said.
Workload of household farmers
The Country Representative of AfricaRice, Dr. Inoussa Akintayo said the introduction of farm machinery helps reduce the workload of household farmers during the land preparation phase and post-harvest phase of their production. He added that the machines will ensure efficiency and make the integrated rice-fish farming system attractive to the younger generation.
“Students from the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) are also participating in this training. It is good news for the nation. We should encourage young people by showing them the new technology. That is what I mean by we should make agriculture attractive for the coming generation.”
Additionally, Dr. Akintayo added that the EU-funded DeSIRA Integrated Rice-Farming System (IRFFS) project is part of efforts to support the Liberian government’s quest to have farmers sustainably utilize the lowland.
“The focus on upland rice production is harmful to the environment because it encourages deforestation, and the yield is very low. So the Government is encouraging them to go to lowland production. The EU-funded DeSIRA Integrated Rice-Farming System is facilitating this transition by building the capacity of household farmers,” he said.
The IRFFS project is a three-year project (2020-2021), that is being implemented by Africa Rice, World Fish in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (NaFAA), and Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI).
