AYV News, October 10, 2024
Complementing President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s Feed Salone Agenda, aimed to address food insecurity in Sierra Leone, Chief Minister, Dr. Moinina David Sengeh has commenced harvesting of the 100 acres of inland valley swamp rice in Pejeh chiefdom, Pujehun district.
Dr. Sengeh said: “Seven months ago (March 5th), Paramount Chief Koroma of Pejeh chiefdom in Pujehun district invited me to his home and made a simple request that he wanted to support President Bio’s ‘Feed Salone’ vision.
“He invited me to work with him and the community to do large-scale agriculture. I pledged to work with the community to deliver on all components of the Big Five and assured the community that together we will deliver.”
The Chief Minister went on that they were able to plant 100 acres of inland valley swamp rice, noting that this is the largest community or not, single swamp IVS rice farm in the southern region.
He said in the area of human capital development, they provided training for the community, including entrepreneurial support, adding that the farm manager joined him in Rwanda as well for more development.
“Over a hundred community youth and women, including the town Chiefs, have worked on the farms. All workers are paid. The partnership between the local government and central government has been incredible. The farm was mapped by a land commission, for example. We do everything through the structures,” he said.
According to the Chief Minister, the farm itself is titled the “Radical Inclusion Community Empowerment” RICE Farm because it embodies what Radical Inclusion means, noting that they use Radical Inclusion to deliver on President Bio’s Big 5.
“I went to the farm with the Minister of Agriculture and his team and the entire community to harvest. Such beautiful scenes again as women, men, and children who we started this farming with were together cutting the rice we’d planted. We have a storage constraint. The community decided to offer sand, labor, and wood as their contribution. We certainly will build a store then,” he promised.
We also, at the invitation of the Minister, established a Radical Inclusion Corporative seeded with NLe100,000. We invited everyone in the community to consider joining as well.
He said the community is also a center of excellence for fish farming in swamps, he commended the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Youth, as a dozen locals are being trained as well for what should be an excellent example for the country.
The Chief Minister also gave scholarships to two students from Pejeh studying in Bo (there’s no senior secondary school in the chiefdom) who will start college in 2 days.
“Look, the President’s vision is for every Sierra Leone. We each have a role to play. Let’s do it together and #WeWillDeliver,” he concluded.
Paramount Chief Koroma of Futa Pejeh, in his welcome address, expressed his gratitude to Dr. Sengeh for involving the community in the initiative, which he said had long been a dream for the people of Pejeh. “For so long, we have been hoping for an opportunity like this to cultivate our vast farmlands. With the support of Dr. Sengeh, our sorrows are over,” the chief remarked. To make the farming efforts sustainable, he requested a storage facility to prevent post-harvest losses from the community’s anticipated high rice yields.
In response, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Musa Kpaka, also part of Dr. Sengeh’s delegation, assured the community that a storage facility would be provided. He also pledged additional support to bolster their contribution to the Feed Salone initiative, ensuring that their agricultural productivity is fully realized.
