"Reducing our trade deficit is at the heart of reducing our exchange rate, ensuring the existence of local factories; producing local goods would enable retention of the millions remitted to Liberia,” he said. He said 90% of Liberia’s farmers are uneducated and lack the capacity for documentation, therefore he called for a more dynamic and functional privately own system that supplies farmers’ needs void of bureaucracy. Freeman said this will best isolate Liberia’s long held agricultural challenge and convert the country to a net exporter of agricultural value added products. The project is expected to restore the capacity of Liberia’s agricultural sector and therewith enhance the sector’s contribution to GDP, increase food security, and farmer’s incomes. Already, Liberia relies on foreign aid, and Freeman argued this undermines the country’s commitment to service delivery for its people.

Source: Front Page Africa January 18, 2017 02:33 UTC