ANNOUNCES MAJOR REFORMS FOR 2024 and 2025
Monrovia, Liberia – In an effort to improve its operating capabilities and support national growth, the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) has planned significant revisions for 2024.
Speaking to media at the agency’s offices on Thursday, Director General Richard Ngafaun of LISGIS described the reforms in detail, highlighting the need of strong capacity-building initiatives.
These include staff trainings to improve their proficiency and efficiency.
Ngafaun also emphasized how crucial cooperation with other national statistical system entities is. Liberia’s National Strategy for Statistics will be updated as a result of this partnership to better reflect current requirements and international best practices.
Trade and agriculture continue to be essential to Liberia’s economic growth and sustainability as the nation firmly establishes its place in the world economy. The Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) has released a study that offers a thorough summary of the nation’s agricultural output, external trade operations, and socioeconomic issues.
The significance of regional agricultural contributions, the state of food production, and Liberia’s continuous attempts to develop its economy are all highlighted in LISGIS’s 2024 evaluation.
According to LISGIS, Liberia’s overall trade value in 2024 was USD 2.64 billion, of which USD 1.03 billion came from exports and USD 1.61 billion from imports. The significant imbalance in the trade balance highlights the nation’s reliance on imports to satisfy its rising consumer needs.
LISGIS Director-General Richard Fatorma Ngafuan claims that a few necessities most notably, rice, motor vehicles, petroleum products, and lamps and lighting items dominate Liberia’s import bill. Liberia imports 41 percent of its total goods from these items alone.
Because Liberia still struggles to refine and produce enough gasoline domestically, petroleum products continue to be a vital import.
Rice, a basic crop in Liberia, contributes significantly to the import picture, according to Richard Fatorma Ngafuan, underscoring the continuous difficulties in producing food locally.
According to the head of LISGIS, motor cars and lamps/lighting items, which promote both local and regional commerce, further highlight the nation’s reliance on international markets for utilities and necessary infrastructure.
Regarding exports, the main goods that Liberia exports are wood, rubber, and iron ore. International markets are crucial to sustaining the flow of these resources, which have long been the foundation of the Liberian economy. However, the lack of diversity in the export industry makes the nation even more susceptible to changes in the price of commodities globally.
The foundation of Liberia’s economic growth is its agricultural sector, which is a significant source of income for rural residents. The 2024 Liberia Agriculture Census reports that there are 338,630 agricultural households in the nation, with the largest concentrations in the counties of Nimba (21.4%), Bong (16.7%), and Lofa (12.7%).
Farmers in these counties mostly cultivate the most extensively grown crops, rice and cassava, making them essential to Liberia’s food security.
According to Ngafuan, “in actuality, 45.9% of households are involved in cassava farming, and 56.3% of households reported cultivating rice.”
He said that despite agriculture’s pivotal position in the economy, the industry has several difficulties, such as its high reliance on rain-fed farming, which makes crops susceptible to changes in the weather.
“The urgent need for investment in modern farming technologies is highlighted by the census finding that only 2.3% of agricultural holdings use irrigation systems.”
LIGIS Boss pointed out that the widespread use of conventional agricultural implements like cutlasses (94.1%) and hand hoes (87.2%) contributes to this problem and further limits output and efficiency.
The agricultural census also showed that families headed by women are particularly affected by the lack of educational opportunities. Compared to 38.3% of male household heads, 64.5% of female heads indicated no formal education. These differences highlight the necessity of focused measures to boost agricultural output and encourage inclusive growth, especially for rural women.
In addition to growing crops, Liberia’s livestock and poultry agricultural industry shows promise.
Overall, families in the nation rear more than 444,000 chickens and 67,000 goats, according to the 2024 census analysis. Even while small-scale livestock farming is crucial to rural economies, modern animal husbandry techniques are becoming more and more necessary to boost output and satisfy the rising demand for protein.
There is more room for diversification within the industry, according to the agriculture census. A more robust and varied food system might be produced by making calculated investments in cattle, poultry, and aquaculture as Liberia attempts to upgrade its agricultural foundation.
According to recent LISGIS statistics, Liberia’s inflation patterns have showed some encouraging progress in 2024. According to the nation’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation steadily decreased from 10.5% in January to 6.2% in June and then stabilized at 7.2% in October. Director Ngafuan says a combination of stable exchange rates, restrained fiscal measures, and strict monetary policies by the Central Bank of Liberia are to blame for this decline.
However, the census assessment notes that growing import prices continue to put pressure on the consumer sector, especially for necessities like rice and petrol.
Significant progress has been achieved by LISGIS in improving its ability to provide trustworthy data, which is essential for well-informed decision-making. The organization made a major investment in the professional growth of its employees in 2024, sending 24 employees overseas to complete graduate degrees in subjects including data science, development economics, and geographic information systems (GIS).
According to DG Ngafuan, the goal of LISGIS is to develop technical capability in order to enhance the quality of statistics, particularly in fields like trade analysis, agriculture, and inflation monitoring. The completion of the Liberia Agriculture Census, which produced a thorough description of the nation’s agricultural environment, was one of LISGIS’s major achievements in 2024.
It is anticipated that this information will guide future initiatives and policies pertaining to food security, agricultural modernization, and rural development. Investments in irrigation, automation, and smallholder farmer capacity-building will be heavily influenced by the census findings according to LISGIS Boss.
Additionally, LISGIS is carrying out a number of ongoing surveys, such as a nationwide Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), an informal cross-border trade survey, and a follow-up agriculture survey in the northwest. These surveys will yield vital information on poverty, inequality, and the socioeconomic circumstances of Liberian households.
Liberia’s commerce and agriculture industries present many obstacles, but there are also many chances for expansion and improvement. A possible path toward economic development is the agriculture sector, with its enormous potential for modernization and diversification.
According to him, Liberia is well-positioned for future data-driven policymaking due to LISGIS’s continuous capacity-building programs and its leadership position in the Statistical Commission for Africa. Liberia can use its agricultural and commerce potential to promote sustainable growth and prosperity in the years to come with focused interventions and a dedication to innovation.
