Liberia: YMCA Liberia to Expand Its Fish Farming Project

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Liberia is planning to expand its fish farming project this year. 

The project, currently comprising just four ponds, is the beginning of an ambitious vision to cultivate 150 acres of land in Todee District, rural Montserrado County. The property — 200 acres in all — was deeded to the YMCA of Liberia, by the people of Todee, for its agricultural programs.

Fish farming is a form of aquaculture practice in which fish are raised in enclosures to be sold as food.

According to the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 report, published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), of the global total of 178 million tonnes of fish produced in 2020, 49 percent (88 million tonnes) came from aquaculture, of which 54.4 million tonnes were produced from inland fisheries alone.

During the fish farm harvest on June 13 this year, Vatekeh Peters, YMCA’s Camp Todee manager, said they are currently raising only Tilapia in their fish pond and plan to include other fish to be raised. 

According to him, the harvest is intended to raise money to expand the fish ponds from four to six and raise other fish species.

“We are carrying out this harvest so we can sell the fish and raise money to add an additional two more fish ponds to the four we have now and to do cross-breeding,” he said.

The organization has plans to put all of its 200 acres to good use: in addition to fish ponds, the farm is engaged in the production of natural honey. At Camp Todee, the YMCA does agriculture training and demonstration to create jobs, promote agriculture activities for food security, and social enterprise development ventures for sustainability.

Peters further disclosed that the aquaculture and honey production are not the only agriculture activities going on at Camp Todee. He noted that they are also producing cassava and related value chain items such as gari and fufu starch, as well as vegetables and animal husbandry.

“Few months from now we are intending to have a piggery,” he added.

According to him, the agriculture activities going on at YMCA’s Camp Todee have created the space for them to train young people in agriculture activities. The training, he said, is also open to the community dwellers, as well as students from the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) and the University Of Liberia (UL). “It is a space for young people to come and do hands-on training,” Peters said.

Todee is Montserrado’s largest district, yet its inhabitants have for decades been deprived of development. Children often end up dropping out from school due to poor nutrition and lack of motivation for teachers at the public schools in the area.  Denizens of Todee District survive mainly by subsistence farming and microenterprises.

As YMCA’s Camp Todee expands its agriculture activities, the organization envisions opening a vocational school to train the citizens of Todee District based on the needs of the community.

“We are thinking of opening a vocational school, where we will also do more training. But once we start the extension in our fish farming and have the opportunity to also expand in our agriculture activities, we will open a vocational school and offer skills based on the citizens of Todee needs,” he added

Vonyee K. Newton, “YMCA Resource Mobilization Director, said the YMCA of Liberia is open to receiving support from any persons or organizations interested in supporting its agricultural activities.

Founded in 1881, the Liberia YMCA’s mission is to unite and empower young people through self-development and service to their community, as an extension of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. 

It is a membership based organization, empowering young people for a better Africa, with the vision of empowering young people for the African Renaissance. YMCA’s membership is open to everyone, regardless of age, sex, culture, religious, or political affiliations.