Liberia August 2016 Livelihood Zones The present document has been produced with the funding from the European Union. The contents of the document are the responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / BACKGROUND ................................................................................. 3 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................ 5 ZONE 01: Gold and Diamond Mining Livelihood Zone ..................................................... 13 Zone 02: Coastal Fishing Livelihood Zone ........................................................................... 15 ZONE 03: Northern Border Cocoa and Coffee Livelihood Zone ..................................... 17 ZONE 04: Rubber, Palm Oil and Iron Ore Concession Livelihood Zone ...................... 19 ZONE 05: North and Northeast Rice Farming and Wild Palm Livelihood Zone ....... 20 ZONE 06: River Cess Rice and Cassava Farming Livelihood Zone ................................ 21 ZONE 07: Southeast Rice and Cassava Farming Livelihood Zone ................................. 23 ZONE 08: Coastal Plain Cassava with Rice and Inland Fishing Livelihood Zone ..... 25 ZONE 09: Vegetable Gardening and Rice Farming Livelihood Zone ............................ 27 ZONE 10: Charcoal Livelihood Zone ........................................................................................ 29 ZONE 11: Sugarcane and Food Crop Farming Livelihood Zone ..................................... 31 ZONE 12: Hunting and Farming Livelihood Zone ............................................................... 33 ZONE 13: Peri-Urban Livelihood Zone ................................................................................... 35 ANNEX 1 – LIST OF ZONING WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS ................................................ 37 ANNEX 2 – LIST OF COUNTIES / DISTRICTS / CLANS BY LIVELIHOOD ZONE ............ 39 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / BACKGROUND This exercise was conducted under the aegis of the Regional Centre for Training and Applications in Agrometeorology and Operational Hydrology (AGRHYMET), a specialized institution of CILSS (the Permanent Inter-State Committee for the Drought Control in the Sahel), and the Ministry of Agriculture of Liberia. The exercise is part of the ECOWAS programme to strengthen information systems in the sub-region as part of the operationalization of the Regional Food Security Reserve with financial support from the European Union. This exercise did not start from scratch as a previous national zoning workshop was organised by FEWS NET in 2011. This report draws heavily from the report produced by FEWS NET, although there are some differences in the map that has been produced this time. Mr. Patrick Worzie, Assistant Minister for Planning and Development in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is to be thanked for his cooperation, especially in the organization of the workshop and his identification of participants. A special thank you goes to the participants themselves, for taking a very active and enthusiastic role in the workshop and for engaging in meaningful discussions, providing quality information for a coherent outcome. The zoning exercise was facilitated by Ms Alexandra King of The Food Economy Group (FEG Consulting), consultant specialising in Household Economy Analysis (HEA). 3 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AGRHYMET Regional Centre for Training and Applications in Agrometeorology and Operational Hydrology) ECOWAS Economic Community Of West African States CILSS Comité permanent Inter-Etats de Luttecontre la Sécheressedans le Sahel (Permanent Inter-State Committee for the Fight against Drought in the Sahel) ECOAGRIS ECOWAS Agricultural Regional Information System EDF European Development Fund ETC ECOAGRIS Technical Committee FEG The Food Economy Group ha Hectare HEA Household Economy Analysis mm Millimetre MoA Ministry of Agriculture 4 INTRODUCTION Since 2014, the Regional Centre for Training and Applications in Agrometeorology and Operational Hydrology (AGRHYMET), a specialized agency of the Permanent Interstate Committee of the Drought control in the Sahel (CILSS), has implemented the extension phase (2014-2019) of the ECOWAS Integrated Regional Agricultural Information System named "ECOAGRIS". This program, which is an initiative of ECOWAS and its partner institutions, is financed by the European Union within the framework of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) regional programme for the operationalization of the Regional Food Security Reserve. The ECOAGRIS project's overall objective is to ‘strengthen information systems at local, national and regional level to meet the information requirements for monitoring food and nutrition and for vulnerability analyses in order to support decision making and to anticipate food crises and better target intervention areas’. The project has two specific objectives: . To strengthen national and regional information systems on food and nutrition security; . To improve the quality of information to help decision making for a better response to food and nutrition crises in CILSS and ECOWAS member countries. The ECOAGRIS component has a strategic focus on the implementation and strengthening of national information systems on food and nutrition security through the implementation of the Household Economy Analysis (HEA) tool. In doing so, ECOAGRIS wishes to continue to strengthen the progress made by the regional HEA project led by Save the Children International since 2008. It is within this context that a national workshop for the mapping of livelihood zones in Liberia was held from 1-5 August 2016 in Monrovia, under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture. This exercise did not start from scratch as a previous national zoning workshop was organised by FEWS NET in 2011. This report draws heavily from the report produced by FEWS NET, although there are some differences in the map that has been produced this time. The activity aims to improve the understanding of rural livelihoods and to identify vulnerabilities to shocks according to geographical locations, thereby constituting a sampling frame for future analyses based on livelihoods. The present report presents the findings of the zoning workshop, including both the national zoning map and brief descriptions of each zone, and an account of the mapping process followed during the workshop. THE METHODOLOGY The Household Economy Approach defines a ‘livelihood zone’ as a geographical area where households rely on the same means – production systems and access to markets – to meet their life and livelihood needs, particularly their food and cash income. The mapping of livelihood zones is the first step of the HEA analytical framework. This step includes a division of homogeneous ‘access areas’ (access to food and income-generating activities) and the description of said zones. The descriptions offer preliminary information on the geographical characteristics of each zone and the main sources of food and income, with some distinction between poorer and wealthier households. Seasonal calendars present the timing of production and market activities by zone, and separate food and income access calendars focus on the livelihoods of the poorer households. A list of the 5 most common food risks affecting each zone and the common coping strategies used by local households are also included in the descriptions. In the following steps of the HEA analytical framework, these ‘access areas’ form the sampling frame for subsequent baseline field studies that include (a) a socio-economic breakdown of the population within the zone and (b) a quantification of the typical sources of food and income, as well as the main expenses, for each wealth group. These baselines then constitute reference databases to which food security seasonal assessments (at national and regional levels) can refer. Analysts have access to the tools needed to make predicative analyses of food security for the year to come (the HEA Outcome Analysis tools)1. Livelihood zoning offers a particular view of economic geography associated with Household Economy Analysis (HEA), a widely used methodology for the assessment of food security with reference to whole livelihoods in their various geographical contexts. The boundaries of different rural economies do not generally coincide with administrative boundaries, but government and agency activities generally do. Therefore the livelihood zones map is usually seen with administrative units superimposed, so that populations can be identified both by livelihood zone and by their administrative location. The livelihood maps and descriptions form part of the knowledge base for food security assessment on a national level. In themselves they do not provide a complete system for food security monitoring or analysis, but they establish a geographical, livelihoods framework for assessing periodic shocks, so that monitoring data on production, prices and other indicators can be considered in a logical and informed manner to allow some estimates of effects and to plan responses. When associated with full HEA baseline information and scenario modelling they are part of a more complete system of analysis. But in the meantime, rapid assessment teams and others may consider the advantages of using livelihood