Project to develop agroecology training at the Tumutu agricultural and vocational training center in Bong County

The center was established in 1978 and occupies a total land area of around 80 ha. The Tumutu Agricultural and Vocational Training Center (TAVTC) was set up to enable Liberians to acquire essential practical skills in agricultural production, animal husbandry and aquaculture, among other disciplines. The center offers a variety of programs designed to enable the transfer of technical skills to trainees through hands-on field activities. Since reopening in 2021, the center's new management has successfully developed a five-year strategic plan that will guide the management and operation of the center.

The center's priority is to provide agricultural training for young people aged between 17 and 38, but it also caters for adult farmers. To date, the center has succeeded in providing technical training in agriculture to several Liberians, helping to improve their livelihoods and productivity; however, the current management of the center is still largely carried out by volunteers who receive no compensation for their services.

The center's management is currently focusing on the implementation of the five-year strategic plan, which will emphasize the adoption of a competency-based approach to the delivery of learning programs. The plans also include programs to invest in high-value-added strategic crops that will be used to generate funds for the center's sustainable operation. The center has already invested in the cultivation of 4.5 acres of pineapples and 6.7 acres of plantains, and intends to set up juice-making and packaging operations.

The center also intends to develop livestock and aquaculture programs and has planned the rehabilitation of its livestock facilities (piggery and poultry).

Difficulties exist, mainly concerning the lack of funding for operations and payment of staff. Having been closed for over 4 years, most of the instructors have left for other institutions, making it difficult for the center to maintain the same standards as before. The new corps of instructors needs ongoing training to ensure that they are up to date with new ideas and innovations in training programs.

For the next three years, the center's objective is to intensify the transfer of knowledge on agricultural technologies and best practices to small-scale crop and livestock producers in Liberia, while ensuring sustainable management of agricultural facilities and resources to achieve profitable returns from farming operations. To achieve this, the center will promote the inclusion of agroecology courses in its training plan, support the transfer of agroecology knowledge to small-scale crop and livestock producers through collaboration and improved delivery of agricultural extension services, and encourage the adoption and integration of climate-smart technologies and other agroecological best practices throughout its operations.

An approach combining innovation and tradition has emerged, which places ecological science, food safety, nutrition, human rights, climate resilience and sustainable development at the heart of agriculture. This is agroecology, which places nature at the heart of agriculture. Agroecology measures its success not just in terms of shrubs and calories, but also in terms of how food feeds people while regenerating soil and water, and helping more farmers secure land titles and make a decent living. More and more countries, encouraged by networks of small and medium-sized farmers such as the Tumutu Agricultural Vocational Training Centre (TAVTC), are actively moving towards the new ECOWAS-led approach and investments supporting nature-based agroecological food systems. TAVTC has identified the inclusion of agroecological training programs as an essential route to ensuring the transfer of knowledge on sustainable and climate-smart agricultural technologies to trainers as well as practicing adult farmers in Liberia.

There is a strong need to introduce apprenticeship programs that provide training in agroecological principles that will contribute to the sustainable development of agricultural production systems. TAVTC is well placed to play a leading role in the transfer of agroecological knowledge; however, the infrastructure and human resource capacity to manage the program must first be developed.

Both projects will have a similar core activity, with a particular focus on training young people and farmers to become involved in agroecology in order to improve the productivity and resilience of smallholder farming systems while contributing to the nutrition and health of rural communities.

The ECOWAS agroecology project will be part of the center's operations, and will follow the same basic strategies and methodologies currently deployed at the center for the transfer of knowledge and technology to learners. The agroecology training program will complement existing programs for the introduction of sustainable agricultural technologies and practices for trainees and practicing farmers. Agroecology knowledge will be imparted through classroom presentations and lecture sessions, as well as through practical demonstrations, on-farm trials and knowledge sharing. Agroecology training will enable our farmers to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly in their farming activities, and the knowledge acquired will enable local production systems to become more resilient to the threats of climate change.