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Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Henry Kpaka in an interview on Radio Democracy, gave a detailed analysis of Sierra Leone’s agricultural policies.
The Agriculture Minister said that those policies have ensured that they are now at the right trajectory.
He stated that in a year or two, rice import/export index will start tilting in favour of local production.
Kpaka also revealed that 36 thousand hectares of rice will be cultivated this year which he said will be a big boost for the country’s agricultural sector, adding that Tomabum, Mambolo, and Gbondapi will be the hub for rice storage and processing.
He stated that many Sierra Leoneans are joining the agricultural investment pool due to a 10 million US Dollars investment credit facility which he is a plus for the sector.
The Minister said the with the government making use of the large scale use of the services of private mechanization, rice importation had dropped by a few percentages.
The Sierra Leone government spends millions of US Dollars for the importation of rice, the country’s staple food. The government is working to improve on agriculture as they launched the Feed Salone Project which is focused on ensuring that the country achieves food sufficiency in the next five years.
Currently, the West African country ranks among the most food insecure countries according to the UN. Global research tank, Statista says 31.2 percent of Sierra Leoneans are food insecure ranking 11th on the list.
Were are waiting to see the rice sir