Food and Enterprise Development (FED) Activity Highlights for June 1st-15th, 2015
- On June 3, 2015, USAID FED hosted a Press Round Table at the Mamba Point Hotel to brief members of the media on current USAID FED activities and accomplishments to date. Some of the media organizations that were represented were the following: Daily Observer, Analyst, Success Forum, Truth FM, Heritage and many more. USAID FED will continue to work with the media over the coming year to gain more exposure and highlight its achievements to the local press. As a result of this round table the following media organizations published an article or aired a story about the round table on the radio: Daily Observer, GNN-Liberia, Liberia News Agency, Success Forum, Women Voices, Heritage, Public Agenda, Focus, UNMIL Radio, Truth FM and United Methodist Radio
- USAID FED participated in a validation workshop for a first draft of the Liberia National Livestock Policy and Action Plan on June 2 held at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). The basis of the workshop was a report prepared by USAID FED in 2013 subtitled “Liberia Livestock Policy” and a second report prepared by BRAC International in 2014 to review and finalize the “National Livestock Policy”. Stakeholders made various comments. The comments made will be incorporated in a follow-up draft.
- USAID FED organized the power tiller operations and maintenance Training of Trainers (ToT) for agro technicians and instructors of the Centers of Excellence (CoE). This five-day ToT commenced on June 3, 2015 at the Booker Washington Institute (BWI). USAID FED is providing the CoE’s with power tillers for use in their agricultural enterprises, demonstration farms as well as to provide fee-based mechanized services to farms surrounding the institution.
- A two-day training with 48 participants (24 lead farmers and 24 from the Monrovia vegetable traders association) was conducted in Montserrado at the Red Light market on principal causes of post-harvest losses and the preventive measures to reduce these losses.
- On June 9-11, 2015, USAID FED conducted training for USAID FED Extension Officers and LNGO Extension Technicians on irrigated rice, rice fallow rice, rice fallow pulse and ratooning on demonstration sites in Gbarnga, Bong County. A total of 28 participants (26 male and 2 female) were trained.
- A meeting of the Technical Agriculture Core Team (TACT), a technical working group for the extension curriculum and materials development, took place on June 5th at the MoA where the team was briefed on the extension materials being developed by USAID FED as well as the validation of the three value chains’ field base extension curricula-rice, cassava and vegetables.