Kakata, Margibi County, Liberia

🇱🇷 Kakata is the capital city of Liberia's Margibi County and is located in Kakata District just over the Du River bridge which is its border with Todee District. It is a transit town at the heart of the historical natural rubber cultivation belt in Liberia. The city is colloquially known as "Kak City". The City host the Office of the National Civil Society Council of Liberia, Margibi Chapter. The Council which is headed by Mr. Friday Edwin Crusor, is known for its diligent role in Advocacy, Dialogue, and Peacebuilding among others.

It is estimated that the city is surrounded by more than one hundred thousand acres of rubber plantations, most of which are now past latex production. Though the Salala Rubber Company and Firestone Liberia are not far from Kakata, the nearby rubber plantations are mostly privately owned. Morris American Rubber Company (MARCO) and Bright Farm are the two largest, and Liberian-owned plantations, by area around Kakata. Small and medium-holder rubber plantations also dot most of the landscape.

Kakata has many primary and secondary schools. One of the most notable is Booker Washington Institute (BWI), Liberia's premiere vocational high school and technical institution. It also hosts KRTTI, [Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute], which trains Liberian elementary and lower-grade secondary teachers. It has Ten Senior High Schools: St. Christopher Catholic High School, St. Augustine, Methodist, Pentecostal Conquerors Academy, Kakata Community College, Francis Michell, Lango Lippaye, St. Paul Lutheran, Kakata YMCA and BWI. Lango Lippaye is the only Government Senior High School in Margibi county. There are three government junior high schools: the KRTTI Demonstration school, E. J. Yancy, and Lango Lippaye. Students from all over Liberia come to Kakata for studies at these institutions.

C. H. Rennie Hospital in Kakata is the headquarters for the Margibi County health team. The Firestone Duside Hospital in Harbel is the nearest referral health care facility.

Kakata has a large daily market in the centre of town. Kakata is a meeting point between urban and rural Liberia: Many of Kakata’s inhabitants either travel to Monrovia to bring goods to Kakata to sell, or travel to the rural areas, to bring produce back to Kakata to sell. The primary groups are Kpelle and Bassa, but all the different groups from across Liberia are represented in Kakata.

Kakata is the fifth most populous urban area in Liberia.

Media: Radio Radio is one of the main source of news and community engagement. The prominent stations broadcasting in Kakata are: • Radio Kakata FM 101.7 MHz • Atlantic Radio FM 92.7 MHz • Radio Margibi FM 103.9 MHz • The BBC World Service IS FM 103.0 MHz • ELBC FM 99.9 MHz • Radio Joy Africa FM 97.5 MHz • Hope Communication Inc. FM 94.9 MHz • Classic FM 93.5 MHz

Geography The city is connected by the paved highway from Monrovia, Liberia via Paynesville, Liberia, and to Firestone Natural Rubber Company's Harbel, Liberia in the south by a dirt dusty road 26th Gate road, and by the paved 15th Gate plantation road in Careysburg, Liberia. It is also connected to Bong Town, Liberia to the north by a partially paved road, by the dusty Borlala road, to Gibi mountain and Gibi District in the east. Finally the paved Monrovia highway continues north-east to Salala, Liberia and Gbarnga.

Economy As of 2011, the area of rice plantation in Margibi County was 6,170 ha (15,200 acres), which was 2.584 percent of the total area of rice planted in the country. The total production stood at 7000 metric tonnes. As of 2011, the number of Cassava plantations was 6070, which was 5 percent of the total area of Cassava planted in the country. The total production stood at 760 metric tonnes. The number of Cocoa plantations was 760, which was 2 percent of the total area of Cassava planted in the country. The number of rubber plantations was 3680, which was 5.9 percent of the total area of Cassava planted in the country. The number of Coffee plantations was 340, which was 1.5 percent of the total area of Cassava planted in the country. As of 2008, the county had 14,872 paid employees, 27,567 self-employed people, 19,298 family workers, 7,048 people looking for work, 9,193 not working people, 23,012 people working in households, 40,953 students, 1,330 retired people, 2,789 incapacitated people, 3,227 part-time workers and 20,954 others, making the total working population of 170,243.