Current status of the Liberia Export Development Project (LEDP)

In January of 2008 the ITC began the process leading to the second phase of the project taking into consideration the following:
  1. Recruitment of 28 out of the 60 Extension Workers to form a core team for a future Extension Worker Team with the Ministry of Agriculture.
  2. Modalities for the inclusion of additional products into the existing ITC’s project in Liberia have begun.
  3. The purchase of 29 motor bikes for each of the Extension Workers including the National Coordinator and the arrival of 4 international facilitators to conduct a workshop from May 5-9, 2008; to train 500 additional small farmers in post harvest techniques.
  4. The payment of allowances to each of the 28 Extension Workers which will run until 2009 December.
  5. The ITC have recruited three (3) National staffers from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to form part of the core team under ITC sponsored Liberia Export Development Project (LEDP) who will be train in trade intelligence, business advocacy, entrepreneurship development and export promotion. It is envisaged that at the end of the ITC current program in the next two years, the core team will form an export promotion unit at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
  6. The chili project has been extended to five counties (Bong, Bassa, Margibi, Lofa and Montserrado Counties.
  7. September 8-10, 2008 workshop on Business Advocacy and National Export Strategy was conducted with funding from the International Trade Center (ITC) to highlights the priority sector for export and to map up an export strategy for Liberia.
  8. At the moment, there are about 546 active small farmers participating in the ITC sponsored chili project on the production of the African Birds Eye Chili.