[:en]Agriculture initiatives will be the largest focus of YAI’s work starting in 2018.    This comes from several studies that show that the best option for Liberia and Liberians to break out of poverty is to invest heavily in education and agriculture.    Over the years the organization has implemented successful sustainable agriculture initiatives in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

These agriculture initiatives will replace the organizations flagship women’s vocational training centers.  Instead of the training center, YAI will place emphasis of training and encouraging women to become engaged in agriculture.  YAI’s agriculture initiatives will be implanted in two parts:

 

• Medium scale agriculture pods: is a unique way to provide all the seeds, tools, and technology a community needs to grow a robust 5-hecare acre farm.   The pod comes fully equipped with everything the community needs for a successful farm.
• A large-scale mass production greenhouse: This new horticulture project will supply premium grade vegetables to the Liberian market by cultivation in a 3.5-hectare poly greenhouse. The vegetables produced in the poly greenhouse are Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Eggplants, Lettuce and a variety of herbs. The poly greenhouse equipped with a hydroponic system allows for year-round cultivation, increases yields significantly and saves water by approximately 80% in comparison to open field cultivation. Currently, the Liberian market relies on import for products of this quality and continuous supply.   Next to the poly-greenhouse, a 4.0-hectare net-house is going to be built. This relatively low form of investment allows for off-season cultivation of local vegetables (Hot Peppers, Bitter Ball, Okra & Kittley).

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