According to reports, the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone (ACC) has opened investigation into the procurement of seedlings and agrochemicals for the Torma Bum Rice Project in Bonthe District.
The US$34.1 million rice value chain project was launched by President Julius Maada Bio on 11 June 2021 as part of his food security agenda, but nothing has been shown so far about it as the nation is still grappling with food insecurity.
President Bio told locals, development partners and members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, the Islamic Development Bank and BADEA present at the event that a well-nourished child or adult could stay healthy, live well, learn, fend for himself or herself and live a reasonably good quality of life.
President Bio emphasised that food security is probably the most critical pillar in achieving the government’s human capital development priorities for the country.
“This project directly benefits 7,000 women and youth farmers, along with 35,000 farming families who are growing rice on 35,000 hectares of farmlands in the project locations. I am informed that the beneficiary identification and selection process was above board and merit-based,” President Bio said.
The President also noted that because the country did not produce sufficient food for its population, the government had increasingly spent hundreds of millions of dollars every year to procure food from the world market.
He added that a huge chunk of the country’s foreign reserves that could have been spent on education and healthcare among other urgent priorities for a developing nation, ended up being spent on importing increasingly expensive food items.
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