IPNEWS-Monrovia: In his continuous efforts to aid the Government of Liberia (GOL) in confronting the challenges Liberia face, as well as reach out to the people of Liberia and assure them what can be projected to resolve the challenges of the country, the political leader of the opposition Movement for Progress Change (MPC), Simeon Freeman rallies Liberians for self-sufficiency in Agriculture and wants the Government to take the lead in this endeavor.
Speaking on the Monday, May 23, 2022 edition of The Simeon Freeman Show via OK FM, SKY FM, Bana FM, Capitol FM and the Simeon Freeman Page on Facebook respectively, the MPC political leader asserted instead of just raising his hands and say that he wants to be president of Liberia, he wants to focus more on the challenges of Liberia and not individuals; and whoever becomes president will be elected not to replace the existing administration but that person will be elected to solve the challenges of Liberia.
“Many at times we look at the historical perspective of our challenges because we want to show you that a lot of the occurrences today were happening years ago. And successively we have made the mistake of electing leaders that do not understand the challenges of our country. That is why we’ve come to this table not attacking as we did in the past, but we’ve come projecting what can be done differently in Liberia. And we assure when we are made the president of Liberia come 2023 in January we will embark on dynamic changes,” Mr. Freeman declared.
In the last couple weeks, Mr. Freeman has been discussing the budget of Liberia on his show. On Monday night, he looked at how does he create jobs in Liberia – what methodology, what mechanism will be employed to create jobs for his people when given the mandate in 2023 by the Liberian people.
He said he believes everybody desirous of being president of Liberia if they came to the table discussing the issues of the country Liberians will have a proliferation of ideas, multiple approaches in which young men and women will sit and analyze those approaches and identify the best ones that can move the country forward. But disappointedly, he noted the only thing most Liberians do is just talk and criticize, doing themselves a disservice. “But when we begin to elevate the standards of who qualifies to be the next president of Liberia by the elevation the ideas, I think it raises the bar for who becomes the next president. And I think if you raise the bar it makes it difficult for just anybody to be in leadership in our country. Let’s those desirous of wanting to be president come to the table let’s discuss ideas,” the MPC political leader added.
Mr. Freeman says investment in agriculture is one best way if he becomes President of Liberia come 2023, he will use to push growth in the country. To kick the ball rolling and taking into consideration the budget of the country based on target revenue to be collected is around US$600 plus million, so he would sit with his Finance Minister and work out modalities on how to immediately borrow about US$600 million to get started.
According to him, out of the US$600 million that will be borrowed, US$150 million will be set aside exclusively to invest in agriculture. He said the biggest challenge of Liberia’s agriculture sector is that the country’s yield per hectare, meaning that the total quantity of output that is gotten out of the farms per hectare is so low. He said studies were done by him and his team a few years ago with focus on rice production that is how it was derived.
Mr. Freeman stated the reason why everybody producing rice in Liberia and sell it in that small beg and put on the supermarket shells and they cannot sell on the mass market is because the price of one bucket or kilo of seed rice is expensive. “If you were to buy 25kilos of seed rice it’s more expensive in many respect and totally noncompetitive in Liberia. And so the imported rice 25kilos from India, China, and Pakistan landed in Liberia is sold for US$11-15.00. That is the range. I am not talking about if it were refined, for it to be refined, a process is required meaning machine hours, warehousing, cost of fuel, cost of generator, overhead is added, you cannot compete and your finished product price will probably be US$16-US$17.00. So the imported rice will be a lot more expensive.”
On why the yields in India, Pakistan, China or even Cote d’Ivoire is better than what is produced in Liberia, Mr. Freeman said their research discovered that local farmers in Liberia do not have the capacity to do proper clearing of lands thus resulting to poor yields in quantity as compared to what is yielded by farmers in the developed countries who have clearer lands where trees are felled properly and planting space is enough to do planting, that is why if elected president of Liberia he will heavily invest in agriculture to ensure self-sufficiency.
He disclosed with US$150 million dollars set aside from the US$600 borrowed, it will be invested in rice and other aggro productions because with a huge cultivation coupled with the assistance of government financially and logistically, the local farmers will be able to produce more rice for the market and even for export. According to him, the price of seed rice is expensive and it is only a financial assistance to the farmers that can help the local farmers produce to self-sufficiency levels.
“Our goal to be president is to transform the private sector. I have come from the private sector as a businessman. I know how to get it done. I know how to do the job. For those who know me know that I adequately deliver and get the job done. I just don’t talk but get the job done. Liberia for a long time has been chronic and been consumed by deprivation and hopelessness, countries that used to look at us as big brother are now are much bigger brothers than we are. We did a series on GDPs and today people can see that,” Mr. Freeman said.
The MPC political leader said if he becomes President come 2023, the US$150 million that will be set aside from the US$600 million borrowed in keeping with the budget projection, will be placed into an account at the Central Bank of Liberia, where loans will in turn be given to the local banks for disbursement to about 30 local equipment and logistic companies that will be set up with a minimum interest rate, to provide clearing and logistical services for local farmers in order to have better yields of production. He also said part of that money will be used to pay for seedlings to be distributed to local farmers.
Commenting further he said every farmer who wants to farm in a given year his farmland will be cleared for free of charge and will also be given free seedlings. He also said when the seedlings grow, the company will then go back to the farmers and purchase the seeds and other produce. According to Mr. Freeman, once a company abroad wants to purchase for example cassava, pepper or rice in huge quantity, the produce bought from the local farmers will in turn be sold to generate more money for continual investment into agriculture.
“We are looking at areas where we can empower local Liberian farmers to self-sufficiency and once that happens, the need for export become a priority which of course generates more income and boost the Liberian economy,” Mr. Freeman noted.
He added once self-sufficiency becomes a reality the poorest people in rural Liberians who are farmers become self-sufficient and generate more income to make them rich.
“Our goal as president is to create that enabling environment for industrial transformation so Liberia does not be just a mere important but can have a balance of trade that favors us. Balance of trade means that we become a net exporter. Image Liberia spends almost 300 millions of dollars on rice importation, and the programs develops within three years and we stop spending money on exportation that will be massive. Instead of spending 300 million dollars out there, 300 million dollars will be circulating within our economy and that is going to be massive economically to the benefit of the country,” Mr. Freeman stressed.
Meanwhile, the MPC political leader has urged the government to be proactive and take the lead in investing in agriculture to ensure self-sufficiency for the growth and development of Liberia.
