IPNews-Monrovia, Liberia-16 May 2018: Though bad road connectivity is a major challenge to economic growth in rural Liberia, it hinders farmers` productivity and it is a serious impediment to market produce.
This condition coupled with high exchange rate posed serious challenge to people in the southeastern region of Liberia who are mostly engaged into farming activities for survival.
The situation has been earmarked by citizens of Maryland County, is one of the contributing factors responsible for increase in the prices of commodities in that part of the country.
Speaking with marketers regarding trade in that area, marketers in Pleebo, Maryland County`s commercial hub, the marketers named road connectivity, and dual currency (exchange rate) among other things as major challenges for business people in the area.
This situation, the business people claimed, is responsible for the increase in prices of various commodities particularly the country`s stable food, rice.
Due to the road condition, people in the county prefer going to a neighboring country, the Ivory Coast, to buy goods which according to them are by far cheaper than those purchased in Liberia.
Prices of commodities are high due to transportation fares which is caused by bad road condition, adding, “transportation fares go up during the rainy season and does not come down during the dry season,” Frank Wah, a storeowner stated in an interview with this paper in Small Market in Pleebo.
The superintendent of the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) Pleebo chapter, Paul Nimpson iterated that trade in the county is not balanced due to poor road network.
“Trade in the county is not balanced due to the road network coupled with fluctuating exchange rate and the dominant influence of the United States dollars on the local market,” Nimpson added.
He further emphasized that most people prefer going to Ivory Coast to get goods as a result of constraints faced in getting goods from Monrovia.
The LMA Pleebo-Sodeken District chapter superintendent added that bitter balls, pepper, rice, and cabbage are goods mainly purchased from the Ivory Coast by marketers in Maryland County; something that can be grown in the country.
Commenting further, Nimpson indicated that people who are engaged in agricultural activities are not getting the farmland because the locals have refused to release farmlands for farmers to invest.
The need for active cross-border trade, according to him, cannot be overlooked as this would eventually lead to easy accessibility of goods from neighboring ECOWAS region.
“We are calling on the central government to intervene because we are suffering due to the daily increase in prices,” another marketer, Julie Moore, in Pleebo General Market stated.
She further emphasized the need to regulate the United States dollars or exchange rate on the market; something Moore believed when done it would help reduce prices of commodities on the local market.
