Agricultural Industrialization: An Essential Policy for Economic Development in Liberia

International Journal of Economics and Management Studies

© 2020 by SSRG - IJEMS Journal

Volume 7 Issue 2

Year of Publication : 2020

Authors : Stephen H. Gobewole

10.14445/23939125/IJEMS-V7I2P105

How to Cite?

Stephen H. Gobewole, "Agricultural Industrialization: An Essential Policy for Economic Development in Liberia," SSRG International Journal of Economics and Management Studies, vol. 7,  no. 2, pp. 26-36, 2020. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23939125/IJEMS-V7I2P105

Abstract:

The Liberian government’s approach to achieving economic development is by leveraging foreign investors (concessionaires); international organizations, not ably the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the European Union; and advanced countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, to borrow funds and acquire grants for investment capital. These entities also lend their resources to maximize their long-term gains, for concession contracts, large land tracts, high investment returns, and control of Liberia’s revenue generation system (receivership). This pattern has resulted in the extraction of Liberia’s natural resources for raw material, enriched foreign investors, and allowed public officials to engage in rent-seeking for wealth, while a majority of the citizens are impoverished and the nation remains undeveloped. The Liberian government has implemented this policy since President Roye’s administration in the 1870s, even though it keeps Liberia highly indebted to international entities. New policies are needed to transform Liberia’s industrial structure, enhance its citizens’ technical skills, and develop its economy. The government should be the primary investor in this industrial policy, promoting domestic firms by protecting, subsiding, and nurturing them to maturity. This initiative should be implemented immediately in the crucial agricultural sector to ignite economic growth and quickly followed up in other sectors.

Keywords:

Agricultural Industrialization; Policy; Farming Households; International Organizations; Foreign Investors; Development; Economics; Debt; Donor; Aid; Lender; Firestone Plantation Company; Liberia; Traditional; Project; cultivation; Cash Crops, Rice;

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