FAO/GIEWS CROP ASSESSMENT MISSION TO LIBERIA - 16 January 1996
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An FAO Crop Assessment Mission visited Liberia from 26 November to 22 December 1995. Its purpose was to estimate 1995 food production and evaluate prospects for the food situation in 1996. The team visited eleven of the thirteen counties, using a helicopter to survey those areas which were not accessible by road and worked closely with both local and international NGOs. Even on the most optimistic reckoning, rice production in 1995 was only 23 percent of the pre-civil war level. Cassava pro duction has also been hit, possibly falling by as much as 50 percent. Extensive and continuous population displacement has left large tracts of agricultural land deserted. Insecurity in settled areas outside the ECOMOG controlled zone, has made it difficult for farmers to store seed for planting, and most have depended on emergency seed distribution programmes. Insecur ity has also discouraged weeding and crop protection activities in several of the high-potential settled areas. Cassava has prov ed to be more resilient to short term population displacement and the consequent neglect of crops. The mission’s es timates are highly tentative given that there has been no systematic survey of food production since 1989.