By Cathy Spaulding
The cotton fields and family gardens of Summit are a world away from the timberlands and grasslands of Liberia and Senegal, but Muskogee County native Wilbur G. Thomas knows them all.
What he has learned from one farm, he has shared with the other. And what he has learned from overseas, he has brought back home.
The son of a sharecropper grew up to make a career out of helping African countries develop their agricultural and other resources through the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. He recalled living in seven of the countries and working in 48 African countries.
Even in retirement, the 63-year-old Thomas continues to help African countries develop their agriculture.
He left for Liberia on Sept. 8 to join a U.S. State Department program to help the country achieve its economic growth after 14 years of conflict. He will serve as principal adviser to Liberia’s minister of agriculture. He said his visit is part of a $20 million pledge made earlier this year by leaders of the G8Developed nations (The eight industrialized nations that meet to discuss global issues) to help boost food security and agriculture in poor countries.
“There was a lot of debt accumulated (in Liberia) during the conflict, mainly because of the warlords,” he said. “But they’re coming back. Liberia has great promise. There are three and a half million people in a country the size of Oregon, and it’s rich in agriculture and a natural resource base and mineral base.”
Thomas said he draws from his experience on a farm to help others.
