BDI pitches School Garden Project at One Household, One Backyard Garden launch at Ministry of Agriculture.

Monrovia- BASA Development Initiatives founder and CEO Katherina Martu Hopkins 16 November 2022 pitched our School Garden Project at the launch of the One Household, One Backyard Garden Campaign at the Liberian Ministry of Agriculture.

The event was organized by Welthungerhilfe Liberia and hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture. The event brought together the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, World Bank, African Development Bank, USAID, and other development partners. The speech made by our CEO is seen in full below.

Madam Jennie Cooper, Minister of Agriculture

Madam Willimanina Jallah—-Minister of Health

Head of WHH and other international NGOs, the European Union and other donors,

Distinguish ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Katherina Martu Hopkins, founder, and Director of BASA Development Initiatives. BASA Development Initiatives (BDI) is a youth-led Liberian not-for-profit organization seeking to improve the living conditions of the less fortunate with a specific focus on women and youth across Liberia through several intervention areas. These include agriculture, agribusiness, education, youth, and women development as well as climate change. BASA Development Initiatives was established by a team of 13 young and experienced Liberian professionals with complementary skills. Our interest is to take ownership of the development of our country by working with the government, and local and international partners to deliver great outcomes in our intervention areas.

Today, I would like to talk to you about our first self-help project. Between July and August this year (2022), the team at BASA Development Initiatives participated in research related to youth in agribusiness led by CERATH Development Organization. BDI Team members also participated in research work related to the development of Liberia’s first Agricultural Financing Framework led by CERATH Development Organization and Elitrsut Ghana. During the youth in agribusiness research that we participated in, over 1,701 students from several universities in Liberia were interviewed. The research found that 63.85% had no interest in agribusiness or agriculture and 36.15% had interest in the sector. 53% of these young people had interest in working in government. 

This plus many other factors in the findings made us understand that less interest in agriculture and agribusiness is a foundational problem for young people in Liberia. As part of contributing to building interest and aspiration for Liberian youth to get involved with agriculture, we, BDI decided to raise money among ourselves, and kick-start a project call the Liberia School Garden Project. We got US$1,000 to support this initiative as a start.

Since the limited funding we have come from our members, BDI is starting with two schools in Sinoe County. The schools include the Sinoe Multilateral High School and the Seebeh High School in Greenville. Under this project, the schools provide land, create slots in their schedules and get their students into the training program while BDI conducts the hands-on training and provides tools. Each of these schools will have a garden made up of several food crops. The training covers good agricultural practices, climate-smart agriculture, and gender issues in agriculture.

Before moving any further, I would like to thank WHH, especially Mr. Joseph Ashong for giving me this platform and for adding this project to the One Household, One Garden Champaign and needed capacity. The main objective of the school garden is to boost the interest of the school kids in Agriculture from an early age and to also boost household nutrition. Having a garden at home and a garden at school will increase the interest and aspirations of young people to get involved with agribusiness and live healthily. It is our hope that one-day agriculture will be taught in Liberian schools. BDI is open to any intervention that promotes agribusiness, agriculture, and our other intervention areas.

We, the youth of Liberia especially young women are ready to lead and own development. Just a push is what we need from each of you around this table today.

Thank you.