By Abass Jalloh
The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a thirty-six million dollars ($36,000,000) rice farming project targeting five thousand (5,000) Sierra Leonean farmers within a five-year period.
The project will be implemented in the districts of Bonthe and Pujehun by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
To kick start the implementation, the ministry on Monday 8th August 2022 started a three-day engagement on the technical launch of the Sierra Leone Rice Agro-Industrial Cluster (SL-RAIC) project in Freetown.
During the event, improving food security, agribusiness skills development for employability and entrepreneurship, and commercialization of rice for consumption and sales among others were discussed.
The SL-RAIC project was borne out of the engagement held between President Julius Maada Bio and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adeseni, in March 2020, discussing areas of cooperation, especially in the agriculture sector.
The SL-RAIC project is supported by the ADB and the Sierra Leone government and is geared towards enhancing rice self-sufficiency in Sierra Leone and improving the livelihoods of citizens in rural households.
According to Jean M. Due and Gerald L. Karr in their article titled: “Strategies for Increasing Rice Production in Sierra Leone”, the country was an exporter of rice in the early 1950s, but for some years now, the agricultural sector has not been able to meet domestic needs.
The need to import rice has continued in spite of the government’s efforts to increase domestic production.
The Government two years-ago initiated a rice production project in two areas in the country. The Rhombe rice farm is spread out in two chiefdoms namely Gbainti Walla and Lokomasama in the Port Loko district, Northwest Sierra Leone.
Torma Bum rice farm is located in Bum chiefdom in the Bonthe district, south of the country. Both projects are yet to yield the desired results.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (10/08/22)
