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Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka, has extended his nationwide field tour to the southern and eastern regions in preparation for World Food Day and the second anniversary of the government’s Feed Salone initiative.
The tour, which began last week in the north and northwest, is aimed at engaging stakeholders and assessing ongoing agricultural projects under the Feed Salone programme.
On Monday, the Minister began his engagements at Mile 91 in Tonkolili District, where he met with staff of the Sierra Leone Seed Certification Agency and inspected a newly constructed, state-of-the-art seed laboratory financed through the AfDB-supported Agribusiness Rice Value Chain Project.
Speaking on the importance of strengthening Sierra Leone’s seed system, Dr. Kpaka said:
“We believe that getting the seed sector right will increase yields and bring more income to farmers. That is why the government is investing in the infrastructure to provide quality seeds.”
Along the same route, the Minister visited Yoni and Tiama Community Banks, both operating under Apex Bank, where he highlighted the government’s plan to inject capital into community banks to expand farmers’ access to finance. This, he noted, will allow large-scale farmers to access loans for purchasing machinery and investing in farm infrastructure.
In Moyamba District, Dr. Kpaka toured a 60-hectare maize farm supported by SLARiS, designed to reduce poultry feed costs and stabilise egg and poultry prices.
He also inspected the Chinese Aid Agro Tech Assistant Farm, which currently cultivates over six hectares of irrigated land, yielding up to nine metric tonnes per hectare, and serves as a training site for Njala University students. The Minister performed a symbolic harvest during the visit.
He later visited the Youth Incubator Training Facility, also supported by the AfDB through SLARiS, which hosts fish ponds, poultry houses, workshops, and farmland for youth training. At Senehun, under the World Bank’s Food System Resilience Programme, he carried out a symbolic harvest of sweet peppers before concluding the day at a poultry farm producing 6,000 eggs daily.
Dr. Kpaka is expected to continue his tour in Kenema and Kailahun Districts.
