Monrovia, Liberia – May 27, 2024 – The Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development is hosting a four-day strategic planning retreat at a local resort near Monrovia. The Strategic Planning Retreat is aimed at harmonizing donor-funded projects with Liberia’s National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), in line with President Joseph N. Boakai’s development agenda.

In his opening remarks at the retreat, Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah stressed the importance of aligning donor funding projects with the government's priority areas, highlighting the need for harmonizing communication, procurement, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and legal units of donor projects with those of the Ministry to ensure adequate oversight, coordination, and visibility. "We want to ensure value for money across all our projects, and this alignment is instrumental in achieving that," he stated.

Madam Pascaline Barankeba, Country Director for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for Liberia and Sierra Leone, welcomed the initiative, noting that “this is an opportunity to bring on board the new perspective and draw out alignments with this new vision for agricultural development in the country”.

Speaking further Ms. Barankeba “assured that IFAD’s new Country Strategic Opportunity Programme (COSOP) will be developed after the National Development plan and will be fully aligned with the National Agriculture Development Plan,”.

The four-day retreat gathers key stakeholders from IFAD, the Ministry of Agriculture, National Steering Committee representatives, the Program Implementation Unit (PIU), and other implementing partners. The primary aim is to evaluate project performance, identify challenges, and develop strategic plans for the remaining project timelines.

Emmanuel Vah, the MOA/IFAD project coordinator, underscored the retreat’s objectives of reviewing project achievements, identifying gaps and obstacles, and drawing lessons from past experiences. The focus will be on analyzing the current state of projects, understanding impediments to project goals, and strategically addressing any temporal constraints to ensure optimal delivery.

Over 50 participants, including the Minister of Agriculture, Deputy Ministers, the IFAD Country Team, Assistant Ministers, County Agricultural Coordinators (CACs), District Agricultural Officers (DAOs), representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and Public Works (MPW) as well are currently attending the retreat. Others were drawn from the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Cooperative Development Agency (CDA), Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Steering Committee representatives, and PIU staff.

This strategic planning retreat marks a critical step in aligning agricultural initiatives with national priorities, enhancing the impact on Liberia’s agricultural development and sustainability.