By Mustapha Sesay
The minister of Agriculture in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sam Sesay, has promised incentives to farmers so as to increase production after Ebola as a way of making up for the losses incurred by the agriculture sector during the Ebola epidemic.
Dr. Sesay made the promise at a meeting held in Kenema as he toured various districts across the country to get firsthand knowledge about how the outbreak had affected his sector and to plan for post Ebola farming. Noting that his ministry had been worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, he said there had however not been any shortage of food in the country. The Agriculture minister also said the sector had direct victims of the outbreak as many farmers were either dead or were survivors.
He said his visit to the district was to inspect developmental activities on tree crops and to also see how his ministry would support the current challenges faced by farmers as a post Ebola package.
The minister announced that his ministry had gotten programmes that would support farmers with imported high yield rice as a post Ebola support. He said fertilizers would also be provided.
Though the Small Holder Commercialization Project had ended, he disclosed that his office already had in place another program to support farmers with feeder roads, improve on tree crops plantation and construct more community banks and Agriculture Business Centres across the country. He encouraged farmers to continue their good work of providing food to the nation and assured of the government’s continued support to them, whenever needed.
© Politico 10/02/15
