Five-Women Cooperative Now Attracts More Than 200 Members
Nengbein, Ganta City, Nimba County; November 4, 2024: – A cooperative that began with five (5) women with the co-founder holding a BSC degree in Agriculture, has now attracted over 200 people and more keep showing interest in becoming members of the Nimba Women Agriculture Cooperative/Venture.
Located in Zalwolo Belleh village, the cooperative was established in 2021 with backyard gardens and five women. In 2022 the cooperative applied for the UNDP Growth Accelerator Programme grant in the Business Plan Competition and was awarded US$40,000.00.
With this grant, the cooperative purchased machines for cultivation, harvesting, post-harvest handling machines, processing, packaging, storage, and quality control. Additionally, the cooperative purchased a vehicle, and 2 motorbikes, constructed a water tower, and a warehouse, and procured other logistics.
Due to growing demands in production, the group of five could not handle the dailyoperations of the cooperative hence in 2022, this Liberian-owned cassava, plantain, and potatoes processing production cooperative, decided to encourage more women to join.
“This cooperative was initially established for women, but we realized that we could not do it alone and invited youth and men to join as well. As time went by, we decided to include people with disability so that they do not sit in the streets to beg,” narrated Plenseh P. McCoy during a visit to the project sites by a team from UNDP Liberia.
Beaming with excitement for the visit, members took their visitors on a short tour around their farm and showcased some of their produce, such as the gari and fresh tomatoes just harvested from the greenhouse.
Plenseh is this cooperative’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She holds a BSC degree in Agriculture. She said with the high unemployment rate of graduates in the country, she took a leap of faith and summoned four women to establish the Nimba Women Agriculture Farmer Cooperative/Venture.
“We started farming in our backyards with an initial capital of 36,000.00 LD. In 2022, more women and youth joined us after receiving the Growth Accelerator grant of USD 40,000.00, under the UNDP Livelihoods and Empowerment Creation project,” Plenseh narrated.
The cooperative has 245 members – 140 women, 90 men, and 15 People with Disabilities (PWD). Norrison S. Luogon living with disability, is the Secretary General of the cooperative and head of People with Disabilities (PWDs).
His responsibility is to ensure that the needs of PWDs are well addressed and that they perform their tasks accordingly in the cooperative.
Luogon said, “As the cooperative slogan says, ‘nothing for us without us’, my responsibility is to ensure that our voices are heard and that we do our task as needed”.
The cooperative has a storeroom within the warehouse with a cassava grinding machine, a cassava presser, and a hammer mill used to process the fufu into powder.
To create income, the cooperative leases the storeroom space to other farmers, and they have employed two security guards at the warehouse.
Addressing cooperative members during the visit, UNDP National Economist, Stanley Kamara noted that the growth of the cooperative in agriculture is exceptional as they have managed to achieve big results in two years.
Kamara said this is a sign of commitment that the cooperative members put into their work. He further encouraged them to keep on working together and to keep seeking support to enhance their knowledge and skills in agriculture.
Kamara reminded them of the contributions they make to addressing food insecurity through farming activities which also encompass good governance.
The cooperative contributes towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 – No Poverty, 2 – Zero Hunger, 5 – Gender Equality, 10 – Reduced Inequalities and 12 – Responsible Consumption Production.
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