Government and stakeholders recommend application of screening tool for responsible agricultural investment

17/04/2023

Monrovia - Investment in agriculture does not always bring positive outcomes. Some may damage the environment, put communities in a plight or result in financial loses. Hence, it is critical that investments generate a triple performance: for people (socio-economic impacts), planet (environmental impacts) and prosperity (financial returns). Making investments "responsible," achieving this triple performance has been the focus of the joint work conducted since 2019 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Liberia, with support from the Government of Germany.

Senior governmentalofficials from more than seven ministries and five agencies, includingthe Ministry of Agriculture and the National Investment Commission (NIC), the legislature and representatives from development partners, private sector entities, civil societies, academia and research institutions gathered on 13-14 April in Monrovia for the two-day workshop “Boosting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Liberia for sustainable development: results, lessons learned and way forward,” co-hosted by FAO and Embassy of Germany to Liberia.

Government representatives and key stakeholders reviewed and validatedthe investment and investors screening tool, which was developed by the state actors of the Responsible Agricultural Investment Multi-Stakeholder Platform (RAI-MSP) in Liberia with the technical support of FAO, and recommended its application. The screening tool helps identify potentially high performing investments, the adjustment of investments with moderate risks, and filtering of high risk and low opportunity investments. This filtering exercise will be pivotal to ensuring that investments in agriculture in Liberia contribute to sustainable development. It is based on the technical guidance produced by FAO and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) and is informed by the Committee of World Food Security Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI).

"It is critical to stimulate investments that will effectively contribute to the eradication of poverty and hunger by creating decent jobs and conserving the environment. Stimulating such responsible agricultural investment requires strong institutional, legal, regulatory and incentive frameworks, and requires collaboration of all actors involved," said H.E. Dr Jakob Haselhuber, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Liberia. “Thereforewe arevery pleased that Germany’s support to FAO has resulted in tangible steps towards improved governance for responsible agricultural investment.”

"Investment that is responsible does not occur in a vacuum. It requires a strong enabling environment that ‘sets the scene’ by providing clear rules, processes and mandates for good of all the actors," said Mariatou Njie, FAO Representative in Liberia.She stated that this high-level strategic engagement meeting involving Heads of Government Ministries, Agencies and Commissions, Ambassadors of Embassies, and Heads of International Organizations is another milestone in FAO's efforts to boost responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Liberia, and thanked the governments of Liberia and Germany and all the partners for their continued support.

"We believe that agriculture is one area along with others that can help us open the economy and diversify it to be able to withstand external shocks. We are very happy to be part of this multi-stakeholder platform where we are going to be looking at the tool generated, to inform how we go about to attract investment in the agricultural space," said Mr Saye K. M. Dolo, Director for Finance and Administration at NIC, speaking on behalf of the NIC Chairman.

"The purpose of this workshop is to streamline and validate the screening tool that we developed,” said Mr Michael D. Titoe, Consulting Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Agriculture. He also shared his enthusiasm, noting that “we are happy that people gather here to discuss investment in agricultural sector that will promote our economic growth and increase the income of farmers so so as to minimize the rate of poverty and hunger in Liberia."

The validation of the RAI screening tool was an important step toward achieving the national and global goals related to food security and sustainable agrifood systems for all. The workshop allowed the participants to deepen the understanding on the RAI Principles, the screening tool and its importance. They also lively exchanged knowledge, lessons learned and the results of the implementation of the RAI activitiesthroughout the workshop including through presentations, a roundtable and thematic group discussions. In the last session of the event, members of the MSP, CSOs and Private Sector actors developed a plan for a streamlined structure of RAI-MSP, which will lead the operationalization of the screening tool with a sustainable and permanent set-up. The participants agreed on the priorities to apply the tool and made commitments to support efforts in this regard.

About the Project
FAO and the German Embassy in Monrovia jointly organized the validation workshop under the international project "Enhancing the enabling environment for responsibleinvestment in agriculture and food systems," funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, starting from January 2019 to be continueduntil June 2023. The project aims to promote responsible investment in agrifood systems in the country through the generation of knowledge, capacity development, and policy and governance enhancement, with a specific focus on priority issues such as youth empowerment, guided by the CFS-RAI Principles. Since its inception, the project made significant progress, including the establishment of RAI-MSP in the country under the Ministry of Agriculture, and revision of the Liberian screening policy and process of investors and investments led by FAO and NIC.