By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Government of Sierra Leone has said it will lessen its participation in the agricultural sector by pushing its role of providing agricultural input and other services to the private sector.
The private sector will now be in charge of providing fertilizer, machineries and even seeds to farmers. Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa announced the policy shift on Thursday during the opening day of policy hearings for the 2021 Financial Year Budget.
“In the agricultural sector, Government will take a policy shift in the provision of agricultural inputs including improved seeds, fertilizers, machinery and other equipment,” he said.
He added: “The private sector will now take over the activities whiles Government provides the regulatory environment. To this end, government has established the Fertilizer Regulatory Agency and the Seed Certification Agency.”
To empower the private sector to takeover, Saffa said the Bank of Sierra Leone has consented to provide US$50 million in the form of loan with single digit interest rates.
Agriculture has been listed as one of the four priority areas for the government’s focus in 2021.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Sam King Brima, explained during the policy session that the new policy was necessitated by the increasing change around the sector and demands from partners.
“This shift has been driven by necessity and it has also been demanded by developing partners like World Bank,” Brima said.
He said the inclusion of the private sector will drive the sector to a full scale commercialization. Brima said the policy shift will be driven by agricultural mechanization; private sector led input system and agricultural financing.
According to Brima, mechanization has already started, after government acquired some 250 tractors for farmers.
“We are going to allow the private sector to run these tractors; they are already in the country. We are really in a good position for 2021, with these machines we will be able to cultivate 150 hectares of arable land,” he said.
The government is not just aiming to commercialize farming with support from the private sector; Saffa said it’s one of the sectors through which jobs will be created.
Brima said diary production and tree crop projects are two of the areas where jobs will be created and lucrative earnings will be made.
“The aim is to make agriculture attractive and lucrative for anyone who decides to get in to it,” he said.
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