With a rapidly growing population, access to land for farming is becoming difficult for most people especially single-women headed households. Women have insecure access to land generally and male family members often restrict their access to family land. This affects the capacity of women to feed their households. The situation is exacerbated by increasing disputes over land that takes variety of forms, i.e. within families, within communities, between families and between communities. This situation is forcing farmers to rely on the excessive use of agrochemicals.
In early 2020, KDA launched its first agriculture project to organize members into farmers’ cooperatives and introduce them to improved agricultural practices through training in agroecology and extension services. The objective is to empower members, especially women to increase the volume of nutritious food produced locally for consumption and the domestic market, and diversify their income sources.
The organization has established a farm to demonstrate the economic potential of farming as a business, provide practical training on-site for members, while creating income generation opportunities for trainees. The organization cultivated approximately 5 acres of lowland to grow vegetables in the dry season; generating more than $250,000 Liberian Dollars (USD 1,200) from its first sale. The organization is now cultivating another 20 acres of lowland to grow rice (in the same area), bringing the total amount of lowland under cultivation to 25 acres.
The organization will use rotational farming methods to grow vegetables in the dry season and rice during the wetter months of the year.
