WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
8 June 2012 
 (12-3066) 
Working Party on the 
Accession of Liberia Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF LIBERIA 
Domestic Support and Export Subsidies in the Agricultural Sector 
 
 The following submission, dated 16 May 2012, is  being circulated at the request of the 
Government of the Republic of Liberia. 
  
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 WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 2  
 
  Explanatory Notes  
 
Domestic Support (Supporting Tables DS: 1-9) 
 
The Republic of Liberia is a Least-developed Count ry with an area of about 43,000 square miles 
which consists of mangrove swamps and beaches  along the coast, wooded hills and semi-deciduous 
shrub lands lateralling the immediate interior, and de nse tropical forests and plateaus in the interior.  
Liberia has 40 per cent of West Africa’s rain fo rest.  Liberia has a population of 3.49 million 
(2008 estimate).   
The mainstay of the Liberian economy is agriculture, which contributed about 45.9 per cent of 
aggregate GDP in 2011.  Agriculture is thus a ma jor component of economic revitalization.  Growth 
in the agricultural sector is led by the production of rubber and timber.  Agriculture is the primary 
source of livelihood for over 70 per cent of the population.  
However, the scarce resources available to small holders and a poor trans portation network hamper 
their ability to get products to market.  The agri cultural sector also suffers from low productivity 
because technology, infrastructure, inputs and supp lies, and labour ware destroyed by over 14 years 
of civil war and internal conflicts.  Interventi ons, measures, and assistance to remedy the problems 
are slowly becoming available.  
During the representative years, before and since and now, the Republic of Liberia has not enacted 
any measures providing specific support for any agricu ltural product that meets the criteria defined in 
the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.  A number of m easures benefiting from te chnical and financial 
aid provided by donor countries and the aid compone nt have been excluded from the figures quoted 
in the Supporting Tables. 
 
Fresh water sources are plentiful and rainfall quantities are copious to nurture agriculture production.  
Consequently, Government intervention (though smal l) in research, technical and extension services 
is principally geared towards improving the productive capacity of smallholder farmers. 
 The figures quoted in Supporting Table DS:1 for this  category are those expenditures tracked by the 
Ministry of Agriculture, the Forestry Developm ent Authority, the Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry, the Environmental Protection Agency, a nd the Central Agricultural Research Institute 
(CARI).  Salaries and wages make up the significan t component of the Government of Liberia's 
expenditure for domestic support.  
 
Export Subsidies (Supporting Table ES: 1) 
 The Republic of Liberia does not and has not provided any form of export subsidies. 
 
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   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 3Supporting Table DS:1 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Measures exempt from the reduction commitment - "Green Box" 
 
Measure type Name and description of measure with reference to 
criteria in Annex 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture Monetary value of measure in 
year in question (US$) Data sources 
1 2 3 4 
General services Research – research related to environmental issues 
of traditional farming practices, i.e. slash and burn, 
waste dumping, water management and irrigation, 
applied research in the ar eas of plant and animal 
breeding, grains and cereals, roots and  tubercles, and production and integrated protection of the 
agricultural products.  Environment Protection Agency, 
Ministry of Agriculture, Central Agricultural Research Institute 
(CARI) 
2009 
2010 2011 0 
168,000 460,000 
Extension – includes availability of means to 
facilitate the transfer of information; enabling of 
agricultural agent; production and diffusion of programmes of awareness, training and information 
for farmers.  
2009 
2010 2011 0 
195,000 358,000 
 Infrastructure – rural engineering works, such as 
land and water conservation, construction of dams for low land agriculture, water holding 
infrastructures, reservoirs and mobilization of water 
for irrigation.  
2009 
2010 
2011 0 
300,000 
300,000 
Support to the Development of Agricultural 
Production – diversification and promotion of low-
land, rain-fed, and irrigated agriculture, agricultural research and development of forest based products.  
2009 
2010 2011 0 
255,000 375,000  
  WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 4 Measure type Name and description of measure with reference to 
criteria in Annex 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture Monetary value of measure in 
year in question (US$) Data sources 
1 2 3 4 
 Support to the Development of Livestock and 
Fisheries – training of inspectors; animal sanitation, 
immunization, and improvement in slaughter 
conditions; improvement in production, storage and 
processing; development of support in the 
transformation and enhan cement of products of 
animal and plant origin.  Ministry of Agriculture, Central 
Agricultural Research Institute 
(CARI) 
2009 
2010 
2011 0 
175,000 
256,000 
Public stockholding for food security purposes (provided by donor countries) None  Ministry of Agriculture and  
Ministry of Commerce and Industry 
Domestic food aid None    
Decoupled income support None  
Income insurance and income safety-net 
programmes None  
Payments for relief from natural disasters None  
Structural adjustment assistance provided 
through producer re tirement programmes None  
Structural adjustment assistance provided 
through resource retir ement programmes None  
Structural adjustment assistance provided 
through investment aids None  
Environmental programmes Forest maintena nce, reforestation, forest reserves, 
integrated management of the water's resource, 
conservation of nature and of biodiversity.  Forest Development Authority 
(FDA), Ministry of Agriculture, and 
the Environmental Protection 
Agency(EPA) 
 2009 
2010 
2011 158,880 
290,600 
379,000  
Regional assistance programmes None  Coordination Unit, Ministry of 
Agriculture 
 
  
   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 5Supporting Table DS:2 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Measures exempt from the reducti on commitment - Special and Differential Treatment - "Development Programmes" 
Measure type Name and description of measure with 
reference to criteria in Article 6:2 of the 
Agreement on Agriculture Monetary value of measure in year in 
question (US$) Data sources 
1 2 3 4 
Not applicable. 
  
  WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 6 Supporting Table DS:3 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Measures exempt from the reduc tion commitment - Direct Payments under Production- Limiting Programmes - "Exempt Direct Payments"  
Measure type Name and description of measure with reference to criteria 
in Article 6:5 of the Agreement on Agriculture Monetary value of measure in year in question 
(US$) Data sources 
1 2 3 4 
Not applicable.  
  
   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 7Supporting Table DS:4 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Calculation of the Total Aggregate Measurement of Support 
Description of basic products Product-specific AMS Produ ct-specific measurements of  support Current Total AMS 
1 2 3 4 
Not applicable.  
  
  WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 8 Supporting Table DS:5 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Product-Specific Aggregate Measuremen ts of Support:  Market Price Support 
Description of 
basic products Calendar/ 
marketing year Measure type(s) Applied 
administered 
price External 
reference price Eligible 
production Associated 
fees/levies Total market 
price support Data sources 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
((4-5*6)-7) 9 
Not applicable. 
  
   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 9Supporting Table DS:6 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Product-Specific Aggregate Meas urements of Support:  Non-Exempt Direct Payments 
Description 
of basic 
product Calendar/ 
marketing 
year Measures 
type(s) Applied 
administered 
price External 
reference 
price Eligible 
production Total price-
related direct 
payments Other non-
exempt direct 
payments Associated 
fees/levies Total direct 
payments Data sources 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
((4-5)*6) 8 9 10 
(7+8-9) 11 
Not applicable.  
  WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 10 Supporting Table DS:7 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Product-Specific Aggregate Measurements  of Support:  Other Product-Specific Support and Total Pr oduct-Specific AMS 
Description 
of basic 
product Calendar/ 
marketing 
year Measures 
type(s) Other 
product-
specific 
budgetary 
outlays Other 
product-
specific 
support Associated 
fees/levies Total other 
product-
specific 
support Market price 
support Non-exempt 
direct 
payments Total AMS Data sources 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (4+5-6) 8 9 10 
(7+8-9) 11 
Not applicable. 
  
   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 11Supporting Table DS:8 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Product-Specific Equivalent Measurements of Support 
Description 
of basic 
products Calendar/ 
marketing 
year Measure 
type(s) Applied 
administered 
price Production 
eligible to 
receive the 
applied 
administered 
price Market price 
support 
budgetary 
outlays Equivalent 
measurement 
of support Non-
exempt 
direct 
payments Other product-
specific 
support Associated 
fees Total monetary 
value of 
equivalent 
commitment Data 
sources 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
(7+8+9-10) 12 
Not applicable. 
  
  WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1 
Page 12 Supporting Table DS:9 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Non-Product-Specific AMS 
Measure type(s) Calendar/marketing 
year Non-product-specific 
budgetary outlays Other non-product-
specific support Associated fees/levies Total non-product 
specific support Data sources 
1 2 3 4 5 6 
(3+4-5) 7 
Not applicable. 
 
  
   WT/ACC/SPEC/LBR/1
 Page 13Supporting Table ES:1 
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:  LIBERIA 
REPORTING PERIOD:  2009-2011 
 
Export Subsidies:  Outlay and Quantity 
Description of 
products Direct export 
subsidies Sales of stocks Producer 
financed 
subsidies Cost reduction 
measures Internal transport 
subsidies Total product 
specific export 
subsidies Quantity of 
subsidized 
exports Data source 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
Not applicable.  
 
 
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