In Summary:
- A staunch supporter of the government claimed in a Facebook Live interview that the government of President Boakai has made an agriculture investment of 4,000 hectares in 2024. He added that the administration is targeting 10,000 hectares in 2025.
- We have fact-checked the claims by reviewing press releases and articles published by the Ministry of Agriculture
- We found that while the investment in 2024 is mostly correct, the target for 2025 is exaggerated
On May 2, Mr. George Lobo, a staunch supporter of the government, claims that the government has made an agriculture investment of 4,000 hectares in its first year.
He made the claim during an brief interview with FrontPage Africa in Gbarnga, Bong County, while highlighting some of the progress of the government.
Claim
Said Lobo: “We talk about the agriculture sector; the level of investment being made from 4,000 hectares in year one to 10,000 hectares this year”.
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we reviewed publications from the Ministry of Agriculture which contains information on the level of investment made in agricultural land cultivation in 2024 and the current targets for 2025.
Our review found a January 9 press release on the Minister of Agriculture’s meeting with officials from the African Development Bank in Uganda on the margin of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).
The release quotes the Minister as saying over 4,000 hectares of lowland rice and 800 hectares of cassava were cultivated in 2024.
In addition, we found a February 10 publication from the Ministry of Agriculture on the minister’s visit to Nimba. This article quotes the Minister: “The nation cultivated 4,000 hectares of lowland rice in 2024”, stating that the target for 2025 is 6,500 hectares.”
Conclusion
Based on the review of the articles, we conclude that Mr. George Lobo’s claim that investment in the agriculture sector in 2024 was 4,000 hectares is mostly correct because Mr. Lobo did not include the 800 hectares of investment in cassava cultivation in 2024.
Also, his claim that the target for 2025 is 10 hectares is incorrect. Publications from the Ministry of Agriculture show that the target for lowland rice cultivation this year is 6,500 hectares.
