Artgeo Foundation, Inc.

I am committed to solving food shortages and alleviate poverty in Liberia. My solution will ultimately change the lives of million of people as it tends to produce affordable food for all.

The actual problem i am trying to solve is extreme food shortage in Liberia and Africa as a whole. The problem of food shortage in Liberia is on a large scale as many household live on less than a dollar thereby increasing the demands for food across the country.

The major contributing factor is the 14 years civil war that devastated the country's agricultural sector. Seed band and large seeds reserve were destroyed and looted by fighting forces including the decapitation of mechanize farmers left many farmers fleeing and seeking refuge in other countries of Africa causing serious food shortages for returning farmers.

I am working on a project to improve the lives of 0.5 million inhabitants who will directly benefit from the initiative.

We have organized a community led forum aim at ensuring the beneficiaries to understand their need and seek their meaningful contribution to overall initiative.

One of the key ways to address their needs is the provision of affordable food on the local market. This means providing the largest quantity of the country's stable food - rice and have it sold for at least $5.00 per 25kg bag instead of $16.00 as it is being sold in which many citizens can't afford to purchase.

My solution is "Sustainable agriculture" food production for all. I intend to produce rice and other mixed vegetable crops. We are using pests forecasting technology. Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control of(IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates practices for economic control of pests. IPMaims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level (EIL).

 The Integrated pest Management strategy, or the integrated pest control strategy (IPC) is a relatively new method of pests control in Liberia though is being in existence in other countries of the world. The usage of IPMaims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level (EIL) is a new pests control means in Liberia's post agricultural initiatives.

We are currently using seed technology in the production, processing and storage of our seeds as well as using biological control method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms. This typically relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role.

My solution will solve the problem because it is the first of its kind in attempting to solve the extreme food shortages in Liberia, This solution is expected to serve 0.5 million of Liberia's 4.5 million population in the next 3 years and has the ability to scale up and  serve the country's 4.5 million population in next 7 years

1) We are currently serving 2,500 persons.

2) We expect to serve  5,000 in one year

3) We are expected to serve 0.5 million inhabitants in next five years.

My goal is to see 0.5 million lives impacted with my solution and see low income citizens, poor, children, women and girls as well as rural and semi rural inhalants have access to affordable food. The next five years, I wish to extend my solution to neighboring Sierra Leon where the civil wars destroyed the lives of many farmers as well leaving food scarcity many regions of the country. 

The key barriers that exist are financial, logistical and human resource constraints. These are key factors to the full implementation of the initiatives in the next five years to come.

For financial constraints, we are working with the central government to provide us some level of financial support to overcome this barrier. On the other hand, for logistical constraints, we intend to work with some of our development partners to provide us some logistics.

We currently have 46 workforce that includes 12 full time, 18 volunteers and 16 part time.

Our team comprises of trained agriculturists who studied in diverse agricultural disciplines including agriculture extension, pests management specialists. etc. and studied in Liberia, China and India.

The team members credentials range from BSc to Masters degree some with a little over 9 years of experience in the field of agriculture. 

We currently work with Child Help-Liberia. Our work focuses on how a child can benefit directly from the initiative especially orphans - those whose parents were killed during the Ebola crisis and those whose parents were killed by HIV & AIDS.

The population we serve include the poor, women & girls, rural and semi rural population, persons with disabilities and the elderly. The service we provide include provision of food to improve their living standards. This is intended to alleviate the extreme poverty experienced by citizens after the 14 years civil wars.

We are working with some of our development partners, donors and the government agency responsible for agriculture in Liberia for funding. However, we are also seeking donors' funding and we are expected to sell our produce at an affordable cost; this will help with our revenue intake in the years to come.

Solve can help with financial and logistical constraints, this will include human resource development.

We currently do not have names of organizations in mind but we hope to partner with agriculture companies, funding organizations and educational and/or training organizations or institutions what will help with training of human resource personnel as we scale up to other parts of the world.

The fund will be used to help improve the economic well being of the marginalized and poor citizens. This includes access to affordable  food for all in Liberia.