KWAPAI Africa Promotes Urban Agriculture

Participants pose after the training 

-Distributes different vegetable Seedlings, other inputs to Farmers

About 60 residents, mainly women from several communities within Paynesville City, are benefiting from an urban agriculture initiative aimed to enhance household nutrition and food security, through backyard gardening.

The initiative is being carried out by Kwapai Africa, a grass-roots non-profit organization that promotes urban agriculture.

Recently, the organization trained and distributed vegetable seedlings and other inputs to the farmers.

The distribution of the vegetable seedlings follows a day-long training workshop organized by Kwapai Africa to develop the skills of farmers to produce food for their families and communities. 

Speaking at the end of the training, the Founder of Kwapai Africa, Ebenezer Kukai, said that the beneficiaries of the program were taught the different methods of improved crop production, including appropriate planting distances, pests, and disease control in vegetable production and among others.

According to him, most residents are engaged in vegetable production but lack the knowledge to improve. 

The training, which was dominated by female farmers, brought together other representatives from partner organizations as facilitators to deal with different topics, such as the importance of vegetable production to promote household nutrition and pest control methods, etc. 

Mr. Kukai said that his organization produces different varieties of vegetable seedlings, and distributes them to community dwellers who grow them for their families and communities.  “We were able to get these things done due to our personal interactions with the community people.”  

Accordingly,  Kwapai Africa solicits funds from residents of communities to make its urban agriculture program initiative a success.

The founder of the organization told the Daily Observer that plans are underway to conduct a “Farmer Field School program.

Farmer Field School is a program where the knowledge of agriculture is being taught to the farmers while on the field.

“This will basically have our technicians take the knowledge of agriculture to the farmers into their various fields to teach them about how to overcome the challenges of vegetable production,” he explained.

“I want to encourage them to get involved in agriculture because it is the bedrock of any powerful nation. It is a very unique work,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Kukai has called on the government to put in place a policy that will enhance urban and peri-urban agriculture in the country. 

He added that if there is a policy for urban agriculture, residents in urban settlements will develop more interest in agriculture to feed the country. 

Mr. Kukai believes that priority for urban agriculture is one way Liberia can become a vibrant agricultural nation. 

“This is one way that Liberia can boost its food production,” he said. 

He further stated that currently a lot of people have vacant lands around the cities that are not developed/

Mr. Kukai mentioned that there is a need for residents to be given security on the use of the lands for crop production.

Explaining his experience with landowners of communities, Mr. Kukai said farmers will have to enter an agreement with the owners, but such agreement is never secure as the land is taken away at any time from the farmer.

“The farmer will start his/her production, after a while when the landowner finds out that this farmer is making good use of the land, they will remove them.  

“We would like for the Ministry of Agriculture to always support these kinds of problems,” he said. 

Mr. Kukai told this paper that he is currently studying agriculture at the University of Liberia. “I am very passionate about this field because I think agriculture is everything in the world.”

At the same time, Kwapai Africa’s founder has expressed the hope to partner with bigger organizations to expand the program in order to reach many more communities in Paynesville and its environs.

Meanwhile, a beneficiary of the program, Miss Welmond Jackson, has praised Kwaipai Africa for the initiative and has called on the government to support the program so that more gardeners can be assisted. 

Urban agriculture is the growing of crops and rearing animals in cities. Liberia launched the program in 2011 to create employment opportunities for the citizens and to improve food security. But perhaps, due to the limited or lack of support for most urban farmers, especially in Paynesville, Kwapai Africa has initiated assistance for farmers.