The Government of Liberia has secured a US$1 million grant to train and empower rural youth in the country’s two most strategic staple crops — rice and cassava — in a major push to tackle youth unemployment and reduce dependence on food imports.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on Monday signed the grant agreement for the project titled “Green Jobs for Youth in Resilient Agrifood Systems.”
The project will run through 2030, beginning with a pilot phase in Bong County.
In Liberia, the project will be jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from KOICA. The same regional model is also being implemented in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
The initiative is expected to contribute directly to Liberia’s agenda to increase domestic food production, strengthen the rice and cassava value chains, create decent jobs, and expand economic opportunities for young people.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah said the agreement underscores the Government’s commitment to both agricultural transformation and youth empowerment.
“This agreement demonstrates the Government’s commitment to increasing agricultural productivity while creating meaningful opportunities for young Liberians,” Dr. Nuetah said.
He noted that attracting youth into agriculture remains central to achieving food security.
“Currently, the Government is determined to increase rice production, and with this program, we will attract more young people to get involved in cassava and rice production,” he stated.
Dr. Nuetah thanked KOICA for its continued support to Liberia’s agriculture sector and assured the Korean agency of the Government’s full commitment to delivering the desired results.
KOICA Country Director for Liberia, Mr. Kim Eunsub, said while the project is starting on a relatively small scale, there is potential for nationwide scale-up based on its success.
Mr. Kim disclosed that KOICA is also exploring additional capacity-building opportunities for Liberians, including scholarships and specialized agricultural training programs in Korea.
For his part, FAO Officer-in-Charge in Liberia, Mr. Godwin Cudjoe, described the initiative as timely, given Liberia’s youthful population and the urgent need to create sustainable livelihoods.
Mr. Cudjoe said the key to making agriculture attractive for youth is to move beyond subsistence farming and position them across the entire value chain — including processing, marketing, transportation, mechanization, and agribusiness.
“Agriculture and agrifood systems offer one of the most important avenues for doing so — provided that we move beyond seeing agriculture simply as farming and instead position young people across the entire value chain,” Cudjoe said.
He stressed that Liberia must make the rice and cassava value chains commercially attractive, technologically enabled, and capable of generating decent employment.
Mr. Cudjoe reiterated that the agreement is not just a project, but an investment in Liberia’s young people and the transformation of its agrifood system. He pledged FAO’s commitment to working with the Government, development partners, the private sector, and young Liberians themselves to strengthen skills and expand access to finance, technology, markets, and entrepreneurship opportunities.
The signing ceremony was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the National Cassava Steering Committee, the National Rice Federation of Liberia, and other stakeholders from the agriculture and youth sectors.
Once fully implemented, the Green Jobs project is expected to serve as a model for youth-led, climate-resilient agrifood systems in Liberia.
