One of the farms visited is operated by the Tonkolili Women’s Youth Network, which cultivates tomato, onions, pepper, okra; most of which they sell to hotels and companies in Makeni City and other areas in the north.

Haja Isatu Conteh, alias Haja Network, is the leader of the Network. She revealed that they are in farming not only to make money for their families and community, but to respond to the clarion call of President Koroma to make Sierra Leone food self-sufficient, through increased farm activities for maximum production. She pointed out that they have ten groups targeting an acre of onions each; bringing it to a total of ten acres in their respective communities.

Haja Network commended the Ministry of Agriculture, which she noted, has been supporting them to reach this height. She pleaded with the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Prof. Patrick Monty Jones to provide them with food for work and tools to enable them increase production.

The Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Patrick Monty Jones thanked the women for the progress made and assured them of continuous support from the Ministry. He encouraged them to target one hundred acres of onions, noting that there is a huge market for onions in the country.

He added that Sierra Leone is blessed with arable land and hard working and that therefore, “we must tap these precious resources to have good yield of crops.”