Liberia banned all food exports Monday to stop dealers from trucking the grain to neighboring countries for higher prices, news reports said.
Liberia, which imports about 70 percent of the rice it consumes annually, does not officially export any rice, but dealers from neighboring countries have been buying rice on Liberia's market to resell in countries where it is more expensive, Commerce Minister Frances Johnson Morris was quoted as saying.
She emphasized that the ban applies to commercial foodstuffs, not to a few cups of rice carried across the border by a traveler.
Liberia, which is recovering from the 1989-2003 civil war, faces a tight supply domestically.
As of May 5, Liberia had 1.7 million sacks of rice in stock, enough to last until the end of August, Morris said.
The government is launching a campaign to urge Liberians to include other grain in their diet rather than eat rice alone.
Liberia also dropped all import duties on farming tools to help farmers increase production.
Source:Xinhua
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