THE ARC

The Agricultural Research Center (ARC) is is located on the campus of Liberia International Christian College (LICC), our Hope in the Harvest partner. The ARC serves as a demonstration farm and teaching farm for the college and the country. The ARC Farm Crew are responsible for maintaining the farm, keeping records on variety trials, managing animal and plant health, and of course doing lots of educational outreach and demonstrations whenever we have guests visiting the farm. The farm is used regularly by the 70+ agricultural students at LICC as an area where they can conduct practical projects, gain internships and this gives the students lots of hands-on experience. In addition to the students, on a monthly basis the farm can have anywhere from 50 to 500 guests. These guests may be students from local elementary schools, agriculture students from other Liberian universities, local farmers, Ministry of Agriculture professionals, other NGOs wishing to learn more about agriculture, etc. Over the past 5 years the ARC has been in existence, we have had over 10,000 visitors, including the President of Liberia, Mother Ellen Johnson Sirleaf herself! The farm is about 20 acres and contains a variety of different research project and demonstration areas including:

• Fruits/Vegetables (eggplant, bitterball, okra, cucumber, tomatoes, hot pepper, onions, cabbage, watermelon, banana, plantain, pineapple, mango, leafy greens)

• Trees (moringa, neem, coconut, palm, avocado)

• Tubers (sweet potato, cassava, eddo, yam, cocoa yam)

• Grains (rice, corn)

• Legumes (peanuts, beans)

• Psuedo-Ruminants (rabbits, guinea pigs)

• Aquaculture (tilapia, catfish)

• Landscape Design (flowers, ponds, pots)

• Bees

• Dairy Goats (Sahelian and West African Dwarf breeds)

• Poultry (chickens, turkey, ducks, geese, guinea foul, quail, pigeons, peacock)

• Laboratory (soil testing, plant diagnostics, animal health, incubators)

• Wildlife Conservation Area (monkeys, parrots, birds, iguanas, potto bear, civets, crocodiles, turtles, dear, pangolin, mongoose)