KABADA, Liberia — Standing in his garden, Alex Wloh wistfully cradled a few ears of corn in his hands. A mile or so away, field workers had been planting palm seedlings where he and his fellow villagers used to grow crops like rice, cassava and vegetables.

Mr. Wloh, 35, comes from a long line of farmers and has been working the land since childhood. But last year, during the height of the Ebola outbreak, his community signed an agreement turning over large swaths of land to Golden Veroleum Liberia, a palm oil company that operates in remote parts of southeastern Liberia. The agreement was signed in September and a few months later large tracts of land were cleared to make way for palm oil plantations.

Mr. Wloh said he was saddened by the thought of his community giving up its farmland. But he and other villagers, faced with poor infrastructure and limited access to even domestic markets, said that growing food and vegetables had reaped few benefits for the community aside from feeding it.

The government has “got a whole lot of tasks to perform but they not doing it, so when they are not doing it, we will call for other people to help us,” Mr. Wloh said.