CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION May, 2014 LIBERIA FOLLOWS THE FOOTSTEPS OF SIERRA LEONE For better or for worst, Sierra Leone has stood behind it’s next door neighbour- Liberia in sharing happiness or bitter- ness. The Socio-political history of these two countries has continued to grow in such that the transplanting of one development project to the other is no more a cause for concern. The belief is that, what works well in Sierra Leone can do better in Liberia. So if Rural Finance can succeed in Sierra Leone then there is no reason for it to fail in Liberia. Pursuant to this and in reference to replicate and adapt the ap- proach and model of Sierra Leo- ne’s highly successful Rural Fi- nance and Community Improve- ment Programme, the Liberia Government through it’s Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of finance and the Central Bank of Liberia saw it Rural Community Finance Programme, Liberia to copy from the approach and model of Sierra Leone’s fit to request IFAD to pilot a Ru- most successful Rural Finance and Community Improvement Programme ral Finance Programme - Rural Community Finance Programme. monitored at reasonable transac- In light of this, a delegation led by The overall goal of the Liberian tion costs. The Project is also ex- the Liberian Deputy Minister of Rural Finance Programme is to pected to provide technical assis- Agriculture, Technical Services, reduce rural poverty and house- tance to the Central Bank of Libe- Dr Subah accompanied by the hold food insecurity in Liberia on ria to develop a sound regulatory Deputy head of Microfinance and a sustainable basis through access and supervisory framework. Financial Inclusion Unit, Central to rural finance. The Project is Based on it’s National Strategy Bank of Liberia were in Sierra expected to support the creation for Financial Inclusion, the Libe- Leone on a week-long study tour of grassroots rural community ria Government is seeing creating (21to 27 May,2014) to the RFCIP finance institutions (RCFIs) along an inclusive financial environ- Community Banks and Financial the institutional models already ment through the delivery of fi- Services interventions and experi- practiced in Liberia and Sierra nancial services to the it’s people; ence. During the tour, the Liberia Leone. It will facilitate the estab- especially for the small earners, team was able to meet and hold lishment of RCFIs in larger vil- youths, market women and small discussions with officials in the lages and small and medium-sized business owners. Some of the Bank of Sierra Leone, the Minis- towns in counties that fulfilled the principal options put forward by try of Agriculture and the Minis- legibility criteria. Like in Sierra the Liberia Government in try of Finance as well as with the Leone, the Project will support achieving this will include down- RFCIP team in Freetown and the the creation of a specialized su- scaling the operations of commer- Technical Assistant Agency in Editorial Team Contributors pervisory entity -the Technical cial banks to become more rele- Kenema. Director of Publication Editor in Chief Graphic Design Richard Bockarie Jr. Assistant and Supervision Com- vant and meaningful for the ordi- Mohamed Tejan-Kella George N. Williams Edward Jaward Sarah Morgan (Dr.) pany. nary Liberians, especially the Like the Sierra Leone’s Technical farmers; making substantial in- Agency suited in Kenema, the vestments into the Micro finance Liberian approach will estab- sector; promotion of Village Sav- lished it’s Technical Assistant and ings and Loan Associations and Supervision Company office in a the creation of new and more ap- central location from where the propriate financial institutions in National Programme Coordination Unit Ministry Of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS) field operations can be guided and the former sector. 12 1 Full Story BACK TO BUSINESS: IRRIGATED RICE PRODUCTION IN SIERRA LEONE The IFAD-funded Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (RCPRP) supports many in- novative practices designed to rebuild community life in areas of Sierra Leone that were worst affected by the civil war. One of these is a simple low-cost irrigation system for perennial swamps, which incorporates a sys- tem of service provision that brings together technical and agronomical support for farmers. In the eastern districts of Sierra Leone, mining used to be the main income-earner. Farming was for the poor; hard labour, low yields and negligible in- comes. But all that is changing rapidly. A well designed and constructed RCPRP Inland Valley Swamp The IFAD-supported project, the Rehabilitation and Boosting rice production is a key component of the Community-based Poverty Reduction Project government’s effort to accelerate the revival of agri- (RCPRP) has been rehabilitating and developing culture and the rural economy in the aftermath of the lowland areas that are flooded in the rainy season civil war. Most of these valley swamps have been and wet year-round, as part of an effort to bring abandoned and covered with forest regrowth. And yet speedy and durable recovery to rural areas of Sierra they are potentially highly productive and could play a Leone affected by the war. major role in the intensification of agricultural produc- Koinadugu Paramount chiefs observing some traditional rites at the Road handing over ceremony Alpha Kallon, chairman of the inland valley swamp tion and the recovery of the rural economy. (IVS) association in Fulawahun in the eastern district of Kenema, couldn’t be happier with the results. In 2011 he and 29 others formed an association and be- An adaptable design gan installing irrigation on a 20-hectare area that had The villages of Norway and Sangbagba in Kono dis- never previously been cultivated. The work was hard trict share an irrigated site that has been reclaimed but even in the first year of harvesting, the incomes from an old mining site. Here too, there is generally were surprising. water available year-round and once the irrigation sys- “The help we’ve been given is so much more than tem was in place, the results were immediate. Since we were expecting,” says Kallon. “And the yields 2011 when the IVS was created, farmers have been are so much better than we could have imagined. I harvesting rice twice a year, and also cultivating a have eight children and I’ve been able to take care of third crop of vegetables. all of them, and finally pay all their school fees. No “The first harvest made a huge difference,” says Bob- more begging for help. And there’s enough food. son Alex Kargbo, the service provider who has pro- When we harvest we put rice aside for our family, vided training and guidance to local farmers on this and the rest we sell in the market.” site. “We went from a single crop of rice per year and All this has been possible thanks to a comprehensive yields of 10-12 bushels per acre, to 45-50 bushel har- and innovative irrigation package that combines op- vests twice a year, and the yields continue to improve. timal design of the irrigation system itself, with a On top of that we also have a crop of vegetables.” strong support system for supervision and mainte- nance that is run as a business, and not only remains Cross Section of Feeder Roads Contractor at the handing over ceremony in Kenema in place, but will replicate itself as new irrigated val- ley swamps are rehabilitated across the country. Women doing transplanting in the RCPRP Inland Valley Swamp Supported farmer doing weeding in the RCPRP Inland Valley Cross Section of Community people at the Koinadugu Feeder roads handing over cermony Swamp 2 11 From Page 4 BACK TO BUSINESS: IRRIGATED RICE PRODUCTION IN SIERRA LEONE From Page 2 BACK TO BUSINESS: IRRIGATED RICE PRODUCTION IN SIERRA LEONE In the Norway and Sangbagba IVS site the associa- tion is predominantly made up of women who have decided to portion off a larger area of common land so that they can pay off their loan more quickly and start boosting their savings for further investments. There is beginning to be a real incentive for people to return to their villages to farm, and for young people a source of employment and income. The high yields, two rice harvests per year and market garden- ing in the dry season promise good incomes, and help attract young people back to rural areas and into farming, as well as generating off-farm skills and MAFFS joint supervision mission to RCPRP Inland Valley Swamps employment opportunities. Pa Alpha Kallon is the Chairman of the RCPRP supported tion sites are run through an innovative system in To date 3,000 hectares have been rehabilitated using RCPRP empowering the rural to overcome poverty through IVS Fulawahun Inland Valley Rice Farmers Association in Kenema which salaried service providers supervise the instal- the new system. This represents a fraction of the total try. The government continues to subsidise rice im- lation of the irrigation and provide training, guidance area of about 700,000 hectares of perennial swamps ports of this staple crop, but as home production lev- “Now we are thinking about post-harvest facilities. and support to the farmers. Since the end of the war in Sierra Leone that could be developed for intensi- els begin to soar, this policy will need to be re- We would really like to have a rice mill, but we need there has been a dramatic shortage of skilled technical fied farming. The IVS system put forward by the thought. a subsidy. This would give the farmers the motiva- service providers in the country.