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By Nukanah Kollie kollienukanah94@gmail.com
Amid Liberia’s persistent challenges of food insecurity, youth unemployment, and over-reliance on imported produce, one agribusiness venture is demonstrating that with the right mix of vision, investment, and innovation, farming can be both commercially viable and socially transformative.
Founded in 2014 by agricultural entrepreneur Nyamah G. Dunbar, SANKOFA Farm has grown from a subsistence cassava initiative into one of Liberia’s most advanced vegetable production enterprises. Today, it covers 650 acres in Bong County, with over half actively under cultivation, making it the country’s largest diversified vegetable operation.
The farm is fast emerging as a scalable model for agricultural modernization in Liberia—driven by a strategic vision, strong community engagement, and support from the Ministry of Agriculture through STAR-P which is being funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development ( IFAD) and World Bank. This integrated approach is demonstrating how targeted investments and local ownership can accelerate rural transformation and food system resilience.
Through this funding, SANKOFA between 2022 to 2023 received critical mechanized assets, including a tractor, power tiller, solar-powered irrigation systems, organic sprayers, plastic mulch, and certified seeds. These investments significantly boosted productivity—on just one okra field, the farm now harvests over 2,000 pounds weekly, retailing at 300 LRD per pound, underscoring how mechanization can directly translate into increased output and income.
The grant’s design ensured fiscal discipline—funds were disbursed directly to vendors by the Ministry, and expenditure was monitored through multi-layered audits by LACF and MOA teams. “This support helped us move from clearing one acre in a month with cutlasses, to clearing multiple acres in a single day,” said Kousse Mamidou, an agronomist who has served as SANKOFA’s technical lead since 2018.
SANKOFA’s new cooling and aggregation facility is not just infrastructure—it is market power. Prior to its construction, the farm often lost revenue and produce due to spoilage and congestion at key Monrovia markets like Gobachop. “The center gives us leverage,” Dunbar said. “We can now store produce, maintain quality, and negotiate better prices.”
Unlike many large farms in Liberia that focus on rubber or rice, SANKOFA Farm is betting on horticulture to meet rising urban demand. Its current portfolio includes tomatoes, peppers, okra, cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce, cassava, beans, corn, carrots, and watermelon.
Crucially, the farm sources seeds from the Songhai Institute in Benin, a regional leader in agricultural research and innovation. This mitigates a widespread challenge in Liberia: the proliferation of poor-quality seeds, which compromise yields and discourage investment. “Reliable seeds are the foundation of food security,” said Dunbar. “We cannot build national productivity on fake inputs.”
Beyond production, SANKOFA is emerging as a rural innovation hub. Through structured training programs, it provides practical agricultural education to students from institutions like Booker Washington Institute (BWI), as well as local youths and women.
Each training cycle engages 25–45 participants, combining classroom instruction with hands-on field experience in tractor driving, organic composting, and integrated pest management. Many participants earn short- and long-term contracts, generating income while building careers.
Farmworkers say SANKOFA is more than an employer—it’s a lifeline. For women like Betty George, the income supports school fees and household essentials. “Many of us are single mothers,” she said. “This work keeps our children in school.”
Joe Sumo, a youth from Gbarnga, spoke to the farm’s educational value: “We’re not just here for money—we’re learning. Agriculture is our future.”
As SANKOFA Farm advances from subsistence to sustainability, founder Nyamah Dunbar is urging the Government of Liberia, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, to intensify its collaboration with local agri-entrepreneurs. She stresses that SANKOFA’s achievements are not anomalies but clear evidence of what’s possible when strategic support aligns with local innovation. “We’ve demonstrated that even modest assistance can unlock big potential,” Dunbar said. “But to scale this impact, we need consistent partnership—more equipment, more training, and better infrastructure. The future of Liberia’s food security depends on how deliberately we invest in our farmers today.”
SANKOFA Farm’s journey from manual bush-clearing to mechanized, market-oriented agriculture demonstrates a scalable model for rural transformation in Liberia. With strategic support and the right tools, the farm proves that Liberians can feed themselves and drive economic growth. As co-leaders Nyamah Dunbar and Kousse Mamidou emphasize, Liberia’s fertile soil and ready youth demand bold investment and vision. In a country striving for food sovereignty and inclusive development, SANKOFA stands as a powerful reminder that agriculture is not merely a means of survival—it is a national strategy.
