The Liberian government plans to reintroduce Liberika coffee to revitalize the coffee industry

Recently, the Liberian Observer reported that the government will reintroduce local coffee variety Liberica as part of its plan to revive the beleaguered coffee industry and other agricultural sectors to support a coffee industry that the government has paid little attention to for years.

It is reported that Liberia is a country in Africa, located in western Africa, and is one of the least developed countries in the world. The country used to export large amounts of coffee, and the Liberian Liberica coffee variety, which originated in Liberia, is the third largest native coffee bean species after Arabica and Robusta. But the civil war in Liberia began in 1989 and did not end until 2003. During the Civil War, the coffee industry was interrupted during the war, and for some time after that, the coffee industry did not get the attention of the government.

In previous years, coffee was listed as one of the priority crops in the investment plan (LASIP) by the Liberian agricultural sector, but the government did not provide direct support to coffee cultivation. As the country's national agricultural investment plan to promote economic growth, LASIP encouraged investors to shift their focus from rubber to other subsectors, such as rice, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, etc.

However, in recent years, the global coffee market has grown rapidly, and the global coffee market is still huge. According to the 2021 / 2022 annual review, the International Coffee Organization found that global coffee consumption increased by 3.3% to 170.3 million bags (60 kg / bag). In addition, according to the latest report, the world coffee production of 2022 Coffee 23 increased by only 0.1% to 168.2 million bags (60 kg / bag).

Director-designate of the Ministry of Agriculture of Liberia

The Director-designate of the Ministry of Agriculture believes that these data show that the global coffee market is still growing and demand exceeds supply, and that coffee cultivation has encountered many difficulties due to global climate problems, and many countries have turned to planting other coffee varieties, so it is necessary for Liberia to develop coffee cultivation, especially the cultivation of Liberica varieties, because Liberika varieties have strong disease resistance and low caffeine content. In line with the current market demand.

At present. Several farmers in Liberian coffee-growing counties are receiving support for coffee cultivation, but there is a need to step up advocacy for the global coffee market. So the Minister-designate of the Ministry of Agriculture informed the senator that he would ensure that LASIP was reviewed within the next 100 days to ensure that cash crops such as coffee received attention. The economic sub-sector, if fully supported, will bring more income to the country. In addition, in addition to coffee, the minister-designate talked about different plans and other value chain interventions, including poultry, rice, cassava, cocoa and rubber.