Technical and Vocational Skills Development for the Oil Palm Sector in Liberia

The oil palm industry in Liberia has a huge potential for value addition and product diversification and can contribute significantly to economic growth and poverty reduction. Studies have shown that the palm oil production and processing sector can create as many as 156,000 jobs by 2030. The demand for palm oil on the global market is huge and Liberia can benefit from huge export earnings from the crop.

Recognizing this potential, the Government of Liberia sought the technical assistance of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) through its Working Group on Education Management and Policy Support (WGEMPS) to fund a study, in collaboration with the Liberia Ministry of Education, to assess the workforce skills requirements for the oil palm value chain and the capacity of local training providers to deliver skills training to the required standards. In general, an agricultural value chain analysis includes the determination of the technical and vocational workforce skills required along the entire production and transformation value addition chain.