Agclir LIBERIA Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Assessment
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Enabling EAT Agricultural Trade AgCLIR LIBERIA Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Assessment AGENDA FOR ACTION JANUARY 2015 AgCLIR LIBERIA Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Assessment AGENDA FOR ACTION JANUARY 2015 DISCLAIMER The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................. 4 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF FINDINGS .................... 7 Liberia STARTING A BUSINESS ......................................... 14 DEALING WITH LICENSES ...................................... 28 INTEGRATING GENDER ......................................... 43 REGISTERING ProPerty ....................................... 61 COMPETING FAIRLY ............................................ 79 EMPLOYING WORKERS ......................................... 86 ACCESSING MARKETING INFRASTRUCTURE ..................... 97 PAYING TAXES ................................................ 105 PROTECTING INVESTORS. 115 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS ................................... 126 ENFORCING CONTRACTS ..................................... 149 January 2015 | 3 LIST OF ACRONYMS AFELL Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia AgCLIR Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform AGOA African Growth and Opportunity Act Liberia AHS Liberia’s Animal Health Service (AHS), a division of the Ministry of Agriculture AWEP-L Africa Women Entrepreneurs Program – Liberia AWICBT Association of Women in Cross Border Trade BCE Liberia’s Bureau of Customs and Excise (Customs) BDS Business Development Support BEE Business-enabling environment BIVAC Bureau Veritas, an international firm that conducts pre-shipment inspections of goods CAADP The African Union’s Comprehensive Development Programme CARI Liberia’s Central Agricultural Research Institute CBL Central Bank of Liberia CDA Cooperative Development Agency CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CET Common External Tariff, imposed under ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme CIT Corporate income tax CNDRA Center for National Documents and Records Agency CSC Liberia’s Civil Service Commission CST Liberia’s former County Support Team; replaced by LDSP DEOH Division of Environmental and Occupational Health (part of Liberia’s Ministry of Social Welfare) DHS Demographic and Health Survey (Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-information Services) EAT Enabling Agricultural Trade ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States ETLS ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FED USAID’s Food and Enterprise Development Program FTF US Government’s Feed the Future initiative FOB Free on Board GEMS USAID-funded Governance and Economic Management Support Program GEWEE UN’s Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment GDP Gross domestic product GOL Government of Liberia HANDS USAID’s Health, Agriculture and Nutrition Development for Sustainability program HDI Human Development Index IBEX USAID-funded Liberia Investing in Business Expansion Project 4 | AgCLIRLiberia ICT Information and communications technology IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development IFC International Financial Corporation IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ILO International Labour Organization IMF International Monetary Fund IMCC Liberia’s Inter-Ministerial Concessions Committee IPDs Import Permit Declarations (IPDs), issued via by Liberia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry IPPC International Plant Protection Convention LASIP Liberia Agriculture Sector Investment Program LAUNCH USAID’s Liberia Agriculture Upgrading Nutrition and Child Health program LBDI Liberian Bank for Development and Investment LBBF Liberia Better Business Forum LBR Liberia Business Registry LCC Liberia Chamber of Commerce LDIP Liberia Decentralization Implementation Plan LDLD Liberia’s former Decentralization and Local Development program; replaced by LDSP LDSP UN-commissioned Liberia Decentralization Support Program LEITI Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative LIBA Liberian Business Association LIFE USDA-funded Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises program LISGIS Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-information Services LMA Liberian Marketing Association LNDLG Liberia National Decentralization and Local Governance policy LPMC Liberia Produce Marketing Corporation LTPC USAID’s Liberia Trade Policy and Customs Project MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation MDG1 Millennium Development Goals MFIs Microfinance institutions MOA Liberia’s Ministry of Agriculture MOCI Liberia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry MOF Liberia’s Ministry of Finance MoGD Liberia’s Ministry of Gender and Development MOJ Liberia’s Ministry of Justice MPW Liberia’s Ministry of Public Works MSMEs Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises MUFFA Mutual Fund for African Women in Liberia NCBA National Customs Brokers Association NCCL National Consumers Council of Liberia NGOs Non-governmental organizations NIC Liberia’s National Investment Commission NPA Liberia’s National Port Authority OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development January 2015 | 5 PCU Post-clearance Audit Unit of Liberia’s Customs Bureau PFM Public Financial Management PPCA Liberia’s Public Procurement and Investments Act PPP Public-private partnership PRS GOL’s National Agenda for Transformation (Poverty Reduction Strategy II) PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers PSI Pre-shipment inspection(s) of imported and exported goods RKO Revised Kyoto Convention requirements; aimed at unifying customs procedures worldwide RM Risk Management Unit of Liberia’s Customs Bureau SHOPS USAID’s Smallholder Oil Palm Support program SIDA The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SMEs Small- and medium-sized enterprises SMWF Sirleaf Market Women’s Foundation SPS Sanitary and phytosanitary standards for traded goods TOT Training of Trainers UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNMIL United Nations Mission in Liberia UNDP United Nations Development Programme USAID United States Agency for International Development USDA United States Department of Agriculture VAT Value-added tax WAVF West African Venture Fund WFP World Food Programme WIPNET Women in Peacebuilding Network WCO World Customs Organization WTO World Trade Organization 6 | AgCLIRLiberia INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF FINDINGS This report describes the overall environment for doing Liberia business in Liberia’s agricultural sector. More specifically, this report closely examines Liberia’s agriculture-related policies, laws, institutions, and social dynamics. The purpose of this report is to inform strategies and decisions by government institutions, donors, non-government organizations, the private sector, and others with respect to developing agricultural enterprise and economic growth. ABOUT THIS REPORT TABLE 1: “EASE OF DOING BUSINESS” RANKINGS OF WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES This report is intended for multifaceted use. It can be used as WORLD BANK, DOING BUSINESS IN 20141 a foundation for formulating agriculture policy, a framework for donor intervention, a substantive resource for future projects, COUNTRY RANK a benchmark for assessing change, a tool for academic instruc- Ghana 67 tion, and, most immediately, a “jumping off point” for stakeholder discussion and consensus-building. Sierra Leone 142 Liberia 144 Since 2008, USAID’s AgCLIR analyses have brought greater clarity and understanding of the policies and laws that affect Nigeria 147 business in the agriculture sectors in more than 10 countries. The Gambia 150 The AgCLIR methodology incorporates knowledge gained from extensive field-based analysis, along with in-depth, com- Burkina Faso 154 parative perspectives solicited from public- and private-1sector experts. This report integrates AgCLIR data received from pri- Mali 155 vate sector activity along agricultural value chains, ranging from To g o 157 subsistence farmers through mid-level service providers to large producers and processing enterprises. It also analyzes Cote d’Ivoire 167 gender considerations and provides information on protecting Benin 174 intellectual property. In sum, this AgCLIR report provides an array of useful content that can help Liberia better identify, pri- Guinea 175 oritize, and respond to the legal, institutional, and social Niger 176 constraints to developing its agricultural economy. Senegal 178 1 Note that the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index does not incorporate the agricultural sector in its methodology, emphasizing instead non-agricultural sectors in developing its index scores. Nevertheless, the Ease of Doing Business index provides an excellent framework for a qualitative snapshot of the general time, costs, and complexity for operating a formal business in a country. January 2015 | 7 AGRICULTURE IN LIBERIA Since the end of the civil war,3 Liberia has been beset with Liberia is rich in the natural resources needed for a vibrant problems across nearly every category of state-building, agriculture sector. It has good quality soil, abundant rain, including agriculture and its business-enabling environment. and a climate suitable for sustaining the production of two Before the war, Liberia was a net importer of food. Because of or three