By Alpha Abu
The acting Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Abubakarr Karim has told journalists during a press briefing in Freetown that this year’s rice farming in different locations across the country will cover a total of 37,000 hectares of farm land . The different actors will have their allocation of hectares as follows: 12,000 to the Ministry of Agriculture’s support initiative, 8,000 for children and youth farms, and 7,000 for donor- funded projects mostly NGOs and 10,000 hectares for large private investment. 820 direct machine-operated jobs will be created because of the modernised farming techniques that are to be used. Some 72,000 households stand to benefit from the Agriculture Ministry’s support.
The Minister said the large consignment of agriculture machinery recently commissioned by President Julius Maada Bio have been repositioned in the 14 districts of the country, with the quantity given out based on the production potentials of each location. The machines are to be leased to the private sector for an initial period of 6 years and could end up owning the machines after they would have completed full payment of their cost.
100 billion Leones credit facility was recently secured from the Central bank through the Ministry of Finance to support agro- businesses so they could be able to access funding for the purchasing of inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides.
Karim said the government’s Food Policy Shift was to increase food production and reduce food importation in line with government’s trajectory of human capital development. The Minister spoke about the private sector-led approach that is now being used by government inorder to attain rice self –sufficiency. The government is targeting a rice production self-sufficiency rate of 86 percent. This he believes will improve job opportunities for rural women and improve incomes for farmers. There is also now the use of digital technology to reach out to farmers.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (19/03/21)
