Farmers’ perceived impact of the agricultural sector rehabilitation project on their livelihoods in careysburg and Todee districts, Liberia

Abstract

The Agricultural Sector Rehabilitation Project (ASRP) is one of key rural development projects whose impact is yet to be understood. The purpose of the study was to determine farmers’ perceived impact of the ASRP on their livelihoods in Careysburg and Todee districts, Liberia. The study sought to describe the socio-economic characteristics of farmers who participated in the project, ascertain the perceptions of beneficiaries on the relevance of the ASRP and examine the perceived levels of impact of the ASRP on the livelihoods of farmers. The study also sought to determine the socio-economic characteristics of farmers influencing their perception of the relevance and livelihood impact of the ASRP. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. One hundred and ninety farmers who were beneficiaries of the ASRP took part in the study. Both closed and open-ended questionnaire items were used to elicit responses from the farmers. The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The study revealed that most of the ASRP beneficiaries had been small-scale(less than 0.5ha for rice and cassava) farmers for at least ten years. The majority (83%) felt the key components (inputs provision and training) were not relevant to their needs. However, the project was perceived to have had a moderate impact on the livelihoods of the farmers. The socio-economic characteristics of farmers accounted for 10.5% of the variations of farmers’ perception of the relevance of the ASRP with alternative sources of income as the best predictors. Similarly, socio-economic characteristics accounted for 19.2% of the variations in beneficiary farmers’ livelihoods impact of the project with production type as the best predictor.