In early March 2023, BudgIT Liberia embarked on a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) project, titled, “Promoting Forest-Landscape Restoration in Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve/Liberia through Agro-ecological Farming System in Vortor Town, Bomi County”. The project seeks to benefit nearly 15 communities with over 2,500 persons. It has enabled local farmers to acquire huge knowledge in land restoration training and establishment of a permanent nursery with tree seedlings available in the LPMUR to be distributed to local farmers to engage in ecological farming as a sustainable livelihood activity to generate incomes while promoting landscape restoration in the LPMUR in Vortor and its surrounding 14 communities. Over 20 potential farmers have been trained in nursery maintenance and establishment as part of the project’s objective of building the capacity of local farmers in the ecological farming system.
Making remarks at the close of the project, the Country Lead of BudgIT Liberia, Abraham Varney, said on April 27, 2023 BudgIT Liberia held an inception meeting with Vortor Town people in Morfeh Clan, Dewein District, lower Bomi County. During the meeting, the community provided huge farmland to BudgIT Liberia for a permanent nursery that will supply at least 50,000 cocoa, cashew, and bitter-kola nut tree seedlings to local farmers to address land degradation in deforested communities. “A land waiver MOU was developed and signed between Budget Liberia and the project beneficiaries. The essence is to secure and protect the permanent nursery site from biases and future challenges among project communities in the near future,” he disclosed.
Varney said, “With a community inclusion and participatory approach, a community taskforce (CTF) and project management team (PMT) were established as core management with BudgIT Liberia technical support and supervision which increased the community’s ownership in the project implementation. The PMT kept track of the project’s progress while collaborating with the Community Taskforce (CTF), which managed the project equipment and materials. This ensured the community’s involvement in the project implementation.
“This project offers employment opportunities for young people and local farmers in our focus communities, increasing their interest and commitment toward the project’s success. The project hired approximately 30 local farmers and youths from the Vortor town for the nursery site preparation and construction. A modern hand pump was constructed to provide water to the permanent nursery in Vortor, benefiting both the nursery and the local community. A 30-nursery bed (3ft wide and 6ft long) for fruit tree germination was established, with the procurement and sowing of 50,000 seeds,” he observed.
“Project beneficiaries acquired knowledge in agri-ecological farming during a forest land restoration training for 20 local farmers in Vortor, benefiting over 20 direct project beneficiaries from 15 communities. These beneficiaries were trained as trainers of trainers (TOT) for the entire Morfeh Clan in the Dewein District of Bomi County. Additionally, livelihood TOT training for 40 local farmers, focusing on rural female farmers, was conducted over four days in two phases. Each participant received a caustic soap startup toolkit to kick start mass production while sharing their knowledge of caustic soap production with other locals in their respective towns. The intent is to empower farmers in various communities in the Lake Piso region by building their capacity to demonstrate forestland restoration in their communities.
“To enhance the project visibility and promotion, an MOU was developed and signed between BugIT Liberia and Radio Bomi’s administration as media partner under the project to inform and disseminate promotional messages like airing of two jingles in the local languages (Vai & Gola) of the project’s county, as well as promotional materials like flyers, postal, talk shows and signposts that enhanced the project visibility,” Varney added.
“From a study conducted by FAO on analysis of Liberia’s forest showed that forest covered two-thirds of Liberia’s land surface, of which less than half (44 percent) was considered degraded; followed by agriculture (13 percent of the land surface); and savanna (11 percent. One of the main drivers of the land degradation problem is the aged-old traditional farming, shifting agriculture. This type of farming has left patches of grassland, as a footprint in many places in this landscape. Another major driver is intentional burning of the mosaic patches of woody savannah fields during the dry season of every year.
“In term of challenges, On Aug 17, 2023, during a regular project updates by the project management committee (PMC), the community task force (CTF), the nursery supervisor and the nursery maintenance officer through the Project Coordinator, the community spokesperson informed BudgIT Liberia of rapid damping off of the sowed seeds and flourishing gemination. Based on the severity of the paste at which the seedlings were dying, on August 18th, BudgIT sent a team to assess the situation and corrective measures were taken. The community’s poor GSM network poses a severe communication challenge in receiving and sending messages promptly and effectively to the project’s community. Also, procuring forest tree seeds was difficult as it’s seasonal. Pests and changing climate posed serious constraints to seed germination, and growth. With the community’s cooperation and collaboration, these challenges were addressed.
“With funding from UNDP, the project implemented in Vortor, Bomi County is contributing to national effort in addressing land degradation problems in affected landscapes in Liberia, including the LPMUR landscape, where the site of this project is located. Overall, the project is to urgently correct the past and current land degradation trends in the project communities in order to return forest cover, improve food security, and tackle climate change problems at the national level. As we gather for the closing ceremony, it’s my ardent hope that the community will continue to show ownership and sustainability of the project accomplishments.
“We eventually managed to raise the funds we needed and successfully completed the project. We am very grateful for the assistance we received and for the experience we gained,” he noted.