National Export Strategy Oil Palm Export Strategy.

To realize the export potential and increase the export competitiveness of the Liberian oil palm sector, the Government has developed this National Export Strategy. At its basis the following Vision "To establish the Liberian oil palm sector as a leading contributor to the national economic transformation agenda through exports development in an inclusive and sustainable manner". This Vision will be realized by the following strategic objectives (i) boost productive capacity in the oil palm sector, particularly at the smallholder level; (ii) promote product and capacity diversification; (iii)iImprove the regulatory and business environment; (iv) strengthen in-market support; and (v) balance human development (specifically youth and gender) and environmental considerations with economic growth.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the Strategy aims at (i) finding a balance between harvesting the economic potential of the crop and ensuring that environmental and food security needs do not suffer and, compared to other sources of edible oils and fats, oil palm is significantly more efficient in terms of sustainable land use; and (ii) taking special care in balancing food security needs vs. exporting opportunities to avoid that production for domestic consumption may be reduced in favor of exports, affecting food security needs in the process.
In order to make agriculture and forestry more productive and sustainable, the main initiative promoted by the document is to move towards becoming RSPO certification compliant in the longer term, to ensure that oil palm production is sustainable as per internationally accepted standards for emissions, use of peat lands, replacement of secondary and High Conservation Value (HCV) forest areas, and the use of chemical fertilizers. In general, the Strategy seeks for increasing information related to environmental considerations and global best practices.
More inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems shall be enabled by (i) increasing organization levels among producer groups; (ii) improving research base aimed at sector needs; (iii) increasing farmer’s capacity to meet market demand; (iv) developing the capacity of the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) to provide effective service delivery to cooperatives and farmer-based organizations (FBOs); (v) mainstreaming of women and youth in value added activities in the sector; and (vi) support projects that strengthen women’s entry into the value chain by developing credit, encouraging entry into processing and developing production models suitable for rural women.