OIL PALM COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT COMMUNITIES AND SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE CONCESSION AREAS OF SIME DARBY AND GOLDEN VEROLEUM Final Report April 2016 conducted by: SUBAH-BELLEH ASSOCIATES ( M ANAGEMENT C ONSULTANTS ) Monrovia, Liberia [email protected] www.subah-belleh.com on behalf of the Liberia National Bureau of Concessions and the [Year] Oil Palm Out-grower Scheme Implementation Technical Committee, with funding from the GROW Liberia Programme. Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Acronyms.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 Introduction & Background ...................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 National Context ............................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Agriculture Sector ........................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 The GROW Liberia Programme ....................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Community Needs Assessment ....................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 3 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Population and sampling ................................................................................................................. 15 3.1.1. Sample size determination .............................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Data Processing and Analysis .......................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Constraints ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 4 Findings ................................................................................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents ...................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Demographic ........................................................................................................................... 21 4.1.2 Economic Activities ................................................................................................................. 21 4.1.3 Health Situation ....................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.4 Wealth Status in the Community ............................................................................................ 24 4.2 Community Challenges.................................................................................................................... 26 4.2.1 Land Access/Ownership: ......................................................................................................... 26 4.2.2 Extension Services: .................................................................................................................. 27 4.2.3 Access to Farming inputs......................................................................................................... 28 4.2.4 Source of Inputs ...................................................................................................................... 28 4.2.5 Road Networks ........................................................................................................................ 29 4.2.6 Human Capacity Development: .............................................................................................. 29 4.2.7 Access to Credits: .................................................................................................................... 30 4.3 Community Risk Factors .................................................................................................................. 31 4.3.1 Sources of Livelihood and Level of Income ............................................................................. 31 4.3.2 Social Contributions by Concessions to the Communities ...................................................... 32 4.3.3 Perceived Impact of the Concession on the Environment and Community ........................... 33 4.3.4 Impact of Concessions on Community Social Life ................................................................... 35 4.3.5 Risk of Conflict/Violence between Community and Concessions ........................................... 37 4.4 Production Challenges .................................................................................................................... 38 4.4.1 Access to Resources for Oil Palm Farming .............................................................................. 38 4.4.2 Organizational Issues............................................................................................................... 39 4.5 Community Concerns ...................................................................................................................... 39 4.5.1 Type of Support Communities Feel Is Needed from Concessions .......................................... 39 4.5.2 Benefits Communities Wish to Receive from Concessions ..................................................... 40 4.6 Out-grower Production Arrangements/Structures ......................................................................... 40 4.6.1 Process in Selecting Elements of Out-grower Arrangements ................................................. 40 4.6.2 Summary of Out-grower Models used as Examples: .............................................................. 40 4.6.3 Who should benefit from an Out-grower Scheme .................................................................. 41 4.6.4 Prior Knowledge of Out-grower Schemes ............................................................................... 42 4.6.5 Selected Schemes .................................................................................................................... 43 4.6.6 Additional Proposed Out-grower Production Arrangements ................................................. 45 Chapter 5 Summary Findings .................................................................................................................................................... 46 6.1 Government, CSOs and Concessions .............................................................................................. 46 6.2 Government ............................................................................................................................ 46 6.3 CSOs ......................................................................................................................................... 46 6.4 Concessions ............................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 48 6.1 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 48 6.2 Recommendations .......................................................................................................................... 50 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Appendix 1 RSPO and FPIC ............................................................................................................................................... 54 Appendix 2 Coverage Statistics ......................................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix 3 Detailed Comparison of Community Oil Palm Out-grower Models ................................................ 62 List of Tables Table 1: Allocation of Sample Size by Region and PAC ................................................................................... 16 Table 2: Actual Data Collection Coverage by Concession and Units .............................................................. 18 Table 3: Percent Distribution by Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Household Heads ........................... 22 Table 4: Percent Distribution of Respondents by Type of Illness Experienced by Household Members in the Last Month Prior to the Survey and Access to Care amongst Household Members ...................................... 23 Table 5: Percent Distribution of Household by Source of Drinking Water and Type of Toilet Facility ........... 24 Table 6: Percent Distribution