Liberia’s Budding Rice Business
Rice has always been a key staple food for Liberians, and thanks to new developments at the University of Liberia, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, we can now grow enough to be sure that every kid has a rice dinner before they go to bed.
But the project, although very promising, is starting off small.
The seven acres of farmland dedicated to rice seed growth by UL’s Fendall Campus is consistently busy these days. The first rice seed was planted in July, and the Liberia Philanthropy Secretariat was on hand to help celebrate the first harvest this November.
The rice harvesting process at UL is very precise, and the team is using the resources at hand in order to grow a product that could change the way we purchase our staple food.
First, the labs test soil for fertility. The very knowledgeable lab technician, Frank Jarwa, walked us through the rooms dedicated to soil particle analysis on the Fendall Campus. The rooms were large but half-filled with equipment the team relies on to check phosphorus levels, fertilizers, acid content, and major deficiencies.
“The soil testing has not come to full swing yet. For the upland rice we’re growing, there is a lot to test. We hope to do more in the future,” Jarwa commented. Upland rice is grown in a field. The opposite is low land rice, which is in a swamp. Growing upland rice is very tasking on the land, but the swamps of Liberia are too polluted to be suitable for rice growth, so preparing the proper fields for rice production is an extreme challenge in itself.
When we reach the field, the first thing we hear is a group of women singing as they chop the rice chaff with their swinging cutlasses. As they chop, they leave the chaff in the field, and another worker comes behind them in the field to collect the goods in a small wheelbarrow. After observing the workers on the job, we noticed a good mix of women and students in the field completing the task. With President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf placing such an emphasis on job creation, this field seems to employ the target group of laborers. The work is tough, and it’s undoubtedly hot, but there aren’t any complaints, only songs to make the time pass and the sweat roll right off their brow. As they finish one lot, the group swiftly moves to chop the rice chaff in the next field. Another woman is already there, swinging her sling in the field to scare the birds that may approach to consume the rice.
The man with the wheelbarrow takes his collection to the threshing machine where the rice grain is freed from the inedible chaff.
“There’s a lot of rice in this field for our one thresher. The processing is too slow,” Dr. Kiazolu states as one of their major challenges moving forward. Abundance of rice is great, but being able to swiftly process a harvest would obviously be better.
The product that is left after threshing is taken to women in another part of the field to be “winnowed.” Winnowing further separates the grain from the chaff, as well as removes any pests that may be taking residence in the product. To winnow the chaff, the women use a winnowing fan, shaped like a large, flat, round colander. They shake the grain and toss it up in the air a few times so the grain stays inside the fan while the remainder of the chaff is sifted to the ground.
“This is the prize,” Dr. Kiazolu stated with a look of extreme satisfaction on his face as he grabbed some of the rice grain and let it fall through his fingers. Each acre of land produces five tons of rice seed, which is then split into 25kg bags for distribution. To begin, the project will distribute a bag to 50 farmers in Cape Mount, Bomi, and Gbarpolu Counties so they can grow rice to sell for local consumption. As the price of imported rice has increased by $10USD per bag in the time it took for the rice seed to grow, the rice being produced on UL’s Fendall Campus is surely going to fill a great need once the project reaches full swing. In more modern farms, machines are used to harvest, thresh, and winnow all at once. For now, large strides are being made by using the tools and people at hand so that soon every little girl can go to bed after having eaten a full plate of Liberian-grown, Liberian-farmed rice.
To learn more about how you can contribute to the budding rice production industry in Liberia, please email us at philanthropy@emansion.gov.lr