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Liberia: Urban Farmers Want Gov’t Stop Land Encroachment

A partial view of the CHAP rice field that is currently under cultivation.

The use of swampland to construct homes, deprived the urban poor who are interested in agriculture

By Judoemue Kollie
Daily Observer
April 5, 2021056

Excerpt:

Farmers in Zubah Town community, Paynesville City are calling on the Government of Liberia (GoL) to stop some individuals who are encroaching on their farmland that is situated within their community.

The farmers have said that the land was given to them by the government, but due to the encroachment on the land, they are finding it very difficult to continue to farm.

The swampland is managed and operated by the Community of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP), a local non-governmental organization that is working to empower smallholder farmers in the country, mainly in rice cultivation.

The CHAP project in Zubah Town, an urban agriculture initiative, was established 2008, before Liberia launched the urban and peri-urban agriculture program in 2011, which aimed to empower communities to grow food within urban settlements to improve food security.

During that period, the project was recognized as one of the major urban agriculture sites in the country as it was supported by the government and partners to empower farmers within the Zubah Town community and its environs to grow food and earn income for their families.

However, after many years, the farm project is no longer sustainable as crop production, mainly rice has declined.

Read the complete article here.