Sierra Leone is set, for the first time, to produce a projected 1.6 metric tons of rice from extensive farming activities in Tomabum (Bonthe) and Pujehun Districts.
The project will cost a whooping sum of 500 million United States dollars. Government has consented as part of the agreement to pay 100 million United States dollars.
This disclosure was made by the Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Joseph Ndanema, while addressing members of the fourth estate on the move taken by the New Direction to increase the production of our staple food.
The Minister of Agriculture further disclosed that Government has, behind the scenes, been negotiating for the past six months with a Turkish based company, Turkish Azarbajan.
The project, he noted, will be done in eleven (11) Chiefdoms in Bonthe and Pujehun and a total of 110,000 hectares of land will be exploited in the next coming months. It is projected that a total of 1.6 million metric tons of rice will be produced against 2023.
The investors, according to Mr. Joseph Ndanema, have visited all the eleven (11) chiefdoms in Bonthe and Pujehun Districts and several meetings have been held with the landowners with a view to reach an amicable settlement with them in respect of their lands.
President Bio, he continued, has also met with the investors, including its head and that preparations are well underway for the start of the project.
The project will ensure the production of rice three times in a year, using irrigation and other advanced agricultural systems.
“Sierra Leone needs a total of 900 metric tons of rice to adequately feed its people, so with the projected 1.6 million metric tons of rice set to be produced the country will have an excess of 700 metric tons for possible export out of the country,” Mr. Ndanema said.
The huge agricultural project is not only going to produce rice but also maize and other vegetable products. Tomabum in Bonthe District used to be the breadbasket of the country, producing a million tons of rice for feeding and export out of the country.