President Bio Clarion Call Takes Root
Popular reggae super star Bob Marley rightly said that “in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty”, which can be related to the situation in Sierra Leone, where there is abundant land for agriculture, abundant water for irrigation, suitable rainfall etc. yet the country is dependent on Importation of rice.
It is this anomaly that catapults President Bio’s Feed Salone Agenda at top notch, making the agenda a laudable one.
All our leaders since independence have merely paid lip service to this agenda, but much has not been seen in the form of tangible evidence of commitment to see this venture through. The only person with similar focus was the former Vice President of Sierra Leone, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma (S.I. Koroma), with the Maforki Rice Project, but politics had the better of the project.
When President Bio introduced this agenda in his first term, many Sierra Leoneans were happy and looked forward to a boom in the agricultural sector, but unfortunately, the only Presidential appointee to grab that initiative was Prof. David Francis, whose farm produced the Eco Rice, which was marketed in Kenema. This was seen as a very good beginning to be emulated by others. It is a known fact that there are different varieties of rice, with various harvest time, some ready for harvest in, 3 months, others 6 and 9 months. But our politicians failed to take advantage of the conducive atmosphere for the cultivation of huge areas of agricultural land to foster this agenda. Many were satisfied with the garden type of agriculture, producing small quantities of rice and other crops for virtually small consumption.
Some analysts are of the view that the failure of the President’s appointees to adhere to his call for involvement in agriculture may have informed his decision to ensure that it becomes a national call. Thus, launching the Feed Salone project in Pujehun this week is a manifestation of the desired change that could address our reliance on imported rice and usher in a state of abundance of our staple food.
To enhance productivity, it is hoped that focus will be put on mechanized farming, which will guarantee huge yield. After all the stage has been set for quality rice production. There is in existence a seed certification agency with experts in seed system to guide the process; rice seed dealers have been identified, as well as seed growers. This, what is needed now is to make use of the available infrastructure, supported by more machines and crushers to enable processing of the rice and bagging. Moves to involve various players like the military, police, fire force, correctional services and youth groups, could be an added advantage that could yield early rice harvesting. This could be the game changer that the country needs, as one analyst said: “we cannot be living in an abundance of water and still be thirsty”.
