A candid lamentation by one
agriculture minister during the
observance of World Food Day
here several decades ago that
Liberia spends US$11 million
annually to import onions still
reverberates as we marked
another World Food Day
yesterday.
It is a pity that Liberians do not
produce enough to eat, and
considering the abundance of
fertile soil and favorable weather,
shamelessly depend on countries
in faraway Asia for their staple--
rice.
This dependence forces Liberians
to measure their monthly pay in
terms of the cost of a 100lb bag
of rice. How long will this
continue--expecting people of
faraway lands to produce the
food which almost every
household yearn to east daily?
However, what Liberians fail to
realize is: we must pay dearly for
this one-sided trade because we
produce nothing Asian nations
demand for survival The bottom
line is we will continue to cry
hardship and plummeting of the
Liberian dollar because we must
buy the greenback that is used to
purchase our needs on the world
market.
Therefore, cognizant of the
alarming illiteracy rate in our
country, we urge the ministries
of information, agriculture and
commerce and industry to fulfill
their challenge in explaining
these hard economic factors to
ordinary Liberians so that they
may wake up to these current
realities.
We also observe with pity how
other food crops including
eddoes, sweet potatoes, yam,
cassava, onions, maize, millet,
sorghum, plantains and bananas
are sparingly grown in this
country, while processing plants
are lacking for seasonal fruits like
plum, oranges, grape fruits,
pineapples and papayas that
become rotten fast after they are
ripened.
With the grim food situation in
the country, we believe
government must prioritize
mechanized cultivation of our
staple. Unsuccessful attempts to
do so by previous governments
must embolden the resolve of the
present government to engage
in this worthy initiative especially
after a prominent official recently
admitted: "We import almost
everything we consume."
Dangerous for any nation.
Why make the importation of our
national staple--rice--a strict
priority as being experienced
these days instead of prioritizing
mechanized farming that could
produce rice in abundance as
well as help conserve meager
national financial resources?