Sierra Leone’s President Julius Bio on Thursday, committed 10% of the National Budgetary Allocation to the Feed Salone Project, expressing the government’s commitment to prioritizing investment in Agriculture.

At the launching of the event, Bio engaged development partners and stakeholders in the agricultural sector and presented his government’s focus on human capital development to drive sustainable growth in the country. He said, “We are prioritising investment in agriculture through the Feed Salone Programme.”

President Bio told the stakeholders, drawn from civil society organizations, development partners, the private sector, and farmers, that there was no reason for Sierra Leone to be a net food importer, considering how richly blessed the country was with abundant land and water resources, ample sunshine and an accessible labour force.

“We enacted sound public policies to stimulate sound private sector investments. The government primarily focused on de-risking the investment space while supporting the enabling environment for private sector players to participate.

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“To this end, my government created a $10 million United States facility to stimulate private sector participation in importing and distributing fertiliser, seed production, and other agrochemicals. We must now turn our rural areas from economic misery to economic prosperity zones. This requires a total transformation of the agriculture sector.”

He also mentioned that He will establish a Presidential Council on Agriculture which may be chaired by himself and will comprise Ministries, Departments, Agencies, MDAs, the private sector, farmers, academia, research institutions, and civil society to oversee the successful implementation of the Feed Salone Programme.