By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
After signing a performance contract with President Julius Maada Bio this year, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka has promised that his ministry will increase the level of commercial agriculture and key agriculture-related policies, and undertake rehabilitation of infrastructures in the country.
President Bio during the signing detailed specific outcomes to which he expects the ministry to contribute for the long term-term development of Sierra Leone.
It was out of those outcomes expected by the President that Dr. Kpaka highlighted that his ministry will improve on productivity of agriculture, increase production of key crops, increase population of key livestock and export of key cash crops.
By December of 2024, the agriculture ministry is expected to make farming attractive for women and youths in 125 communities nationwide, promote Agricultural Technologies (Ag Tech) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) by 45% for sustainable farming and agriculture. It also aims to provide home-grown institutional feeding support for 120,000 (one hundred and twenty thousand) pupils through aggregation, processing and market linkages for farmers.
It further aims to develop four delivery systems for high quality seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals, provide agricultural machines and functional irrigation systems to enhance large scale farming and year-round cultivation, and to create or facilitate 20,000 (twenty thousand) agricultural jobs for youths nationwide.
The Agriculture Minister noted that contingent upon the availability of resources, the ministry seeks to construct an Integrated Rice and Maize Unit for the Enable Njala Project, rehabilitate the head office of the Sierra Leone Seed Certification Agency (SLeSCA) in Freetown, as well as the Seed Multiplication Project (SMP) Centre at Kobia, implement cash for work for the development of Inland Valley Swamps to cultivate crops for vulnerable households including the aged and persons with disabilities.
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