By Senator Amara Konneh
President Boakai is an agricultural president. Although agriculture is the primary focus of his ARREST agenda, its share of the national budget remains below 2% as we enter into the third year of his administration, and is expected to decrease further in FY2026. The apparent increase in FY2025 was brief and hindered by poor implementation and transfers, preventing the sector from benefiting from the headline rise. The House of Representatives overlooked this when they approved the budget on Thursday. The Senate needs to address this oversight, and here is why.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of rural communities, the region many of us represent in the Legislature. More importantly, it is the largest sector of employment for Liberians, supporting nearly half the workforce, primarily through smallholder and subsistence farming (rubber, cocoa, palm oil). Yet despite its importance, the sectorโs budget has remained unpredictable and inconsistent. The dramatic increase in FY2025 was largely misleading, as data shows $1.2 million was redirected from key agricultural projects to non-agriculture ministries, hampering sector growth. In the draft FY2026 budget submitted by President Boakai, allocations dropped by 18%, further stalling progress. Rubber development continues to receive minimal funds, restricting diversification efforts. Overall, the FY2026 budget indicates a declining focus on agriculture, despite its vital role in rural development and the AAID framework.
Even more troubling is the disconnect between policy commitments and actual funding. The President endorsed the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), a six-year, ambitious yet achievable strategy (2024โ2030) formulated by Agriculture Minister Dr. Neutah and his team, with a projected budget of $718M and a stated goal of reaching 70% national rice self-sufficiency within five years. However, between FY2024 and FY2026, the Government has committed only $35M to the NADP, a small portion of what is needed. This gap highlights a pattern of bold planning without strong implementation, leaving agriculture underfunded and unable to serve as the foundation of inclusive growth.
- ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
- FY2024 Actual: $6,584,199
- FY2025 Budget: $16,745,359
- FY2025 YTD (as of Oct 31): $9,842,228
- ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐: $๐ญ๐ฏ,๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฏ,๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ
Growth Trend: - FY2024 โ FY2025: +154% (headline increase)
- FY2025 โ FY2026: โ18% (decline)
Relative to the Total National Budget - FY2024: 0.9% of total ($6.58M / $731M)
- FY2025: 1.9% of total ($16.75M / $881M)
- FY2026: 1.1% of total ($13.66M / $1.21B)
- ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป
See attachment. - ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐
- Facile FY2025 increase: The headline jump was undermined by transfers away from agriculture, leaving budget execution at only $9.8M by October, with $1.2M diverted to nonagriculture ministries.
- CARI Budget Imbalance: Administration grows to nearly $1.9M in FY2026, while only $300K is allocated for research, limiting innovation capacity.
- Rubber development neglected: Allocations remain below $150K annually, despite its potential for diversification.
- Value Chain Project volatility: Budgeted at $8M in FY2025, but execution shows only $4M retained by MOA, with diversions to other ministries. FY2026 drops to $4.2M.
- FY2026 Allocation declined by $3.1M: Allocations dropped18% from FY2025, reducing agricultureโs share to just 1.1% of the total $1.21B budget.
- Administration & Management: Rising steadily, absorbing over $2.4M in FY2026, raising efficiency concerns.
- ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐
- Budget credibility: Ensure agriculture allocations are executed within the sector, not diverted to other ministries.
- Strengthen rural focus: Redirect resources toward cooperatives, extension services, and rural transformation projects.
- Rebalance CARI funding: Scale research allocations to match administration, enabling innovation-led growth.
- Diversify crops: Increase investment in rubber and other cash crops to reduce reliance on extractives.
- Stabilize allocations: Avoid sharp swings to enable long-term planning and consistent delivery under ARREST.
- NADP Implementation: To ensure credibility and impact, the Government must provide sustained and adequate funding to the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), aligning annual budget allocations with its $718M framework to achieve rice self-sufficiency and agricultural transformation.
Agricultureโs FY2025 budget surge proved essentially superficial, undermined by the diversion of funds away from core priorities, weakening implementation. The subsequent decline in FY2026 allocations further erodes momentum and weakens the sectorโs ability to deliver on its mandate.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ?
To help President Boakai truly position agriculture as the cornerstone of his ARREST agenda, the Senate should not concur with the House version of th budget. We should increase agriculture funding, commit the Executive to disciplined implementation, redirect resources effectively toward research, agricultural transformation, and value chains, and ensure stable funding to support ongoing progress. Only with credible budgeting and steadfast execution can agriculture foster inclusive growth, uplift rural communities, and propel national development. We must be intentional.
Let me end by saying: Agriculture, the first pillar of President Boakaiโs ARREST agenda, is the only sector whose budget was reduced in the draft 2026 budget, despite a billion-dollar national budget. It is now up to us in the Senate to correct this. We must now use this opportunity to fix things in our country intentionally.
The budget is a public document. All the data in here are from the draft FY26 Budget. The public debate is healthy and a win for Liberia. Get involved!
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