Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) is stifling an investment of US$60,000,000 in Sierra Leone owing to what it referred to as “critical commercial risks.”
The said sum is set to be provided by an Israeli bank known as Bank Leum le-Israel in the form of a loan to be repaid in a five-year period from the cash flows that will be generated from the operations of the project.
The US$60M investment would be implemented through the establishment of an Agriculture Poultry Farm in Njala and Taiama in the Korri Chiefdom, Moyamba district, Southern Sierra Leone.
Integrated Solutions Africa is the developer of the project while the Agrotop is the implementer.
The former is a company focused on the implementation and management of projects in the fields of Agriculture, Water, Education, Communications and defence while the latter is Israel’s leading company in Agriculture poultry, and piggery turnkey projects with a solid track record and an 80% share of the market in Israel.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Government of Sierra Leone and ISA Group in relation to the agriculture project.
Also, a letter of invitation dated 17th July, 2018 was conveyed to ISA Group and Agrotop prompting them to visit Sierra Leone in respect of the project establishment.
“I wish to express our continued interest in the ISA Group/Agrotop Crop Farming and a poultry integration farm projects. The Government and the Ministry of Agriculture, in particular, is especially interested in these projects and believe they will be of significant benefit to the people of Sierra Leone,” a portion of the MAF letter reads.
Regarding the hearty and warm invitation Sierra Leone extended to ISA Group and Agrotop, they responded by coming to Sierra Leone where they saw a huge agricultural investment potentials.
The project developer and the implementer while in Sierra Leone were lured into the country’s admirable agricultural features and were poised to invest.
But, their development aspirations do not seem to be supported by the Agriculture Ministry owing to what one would refer to as expected bribes or Kickbacks that are not forthcoming.
MAF, through a correspondence of 31st March, 2020 indicated some “critical commercial risks” which have become bottlenecks in the implementation of a project that would create 2,000 jobs for Sierra Leoneans.
The document also indicated that MAF carried out a cursory due diligence on the private developers to ascertain their credibility and experience in delivering related projects and their ability to deliver the current one.
Also, the Agriculture Ministry seems dissatisfied with the information on the operations of ISA Group especially its core competency in the implementation and management of projects in West Africa.
The existence of the so-called critical Commercial risks, according to the document, amounts to “serious risk and challenge” for the success of the project in Sierra Leone.
In response to the Critical commercial risks identified by MAF, a letter of 5th April, 2020 originated by ISA refuted the claims.
The letter established the project developer and implementer as competent enough to handle and manage a project that would benefit Sierra Leone in years to come.
The project, if actualised, would strengthen relationship between Sierra Leone in the sphere of development.
Raphael Israel is the ISA Group Chief Executive Officer who has been in Sierra Leone for years to ensure that the project becomes a reality.
However, Raphael’s development effort is being frustrated by the former and current ministers of Agriculture and Forestry, Joseph Ndanema and Dennis Vandi.
The ISA CEO told Nightwatch that he was not happy with the actions of the two ministers who embark on administrative bottlenecks to delay the project.
“I really do not understand the reason the two ministers delay the project after all correspondences have been put in place,” He stressed.
“It is only the signature of government that is needed for the project to be implemented and the Israeli Bank is ever willing to send the money once the project is signed,” ISA CEO assured.
Sierra Leone is one the most under-developed nations in the world.
According to Statistics Sierra Leone’s recent demographic Survey, the population of Sierra Leone stands at 8,000,000.
The above figure is expected to rise in coming years meaning the current and successive governments have to put their shoulder to the wheel to feed a teeming population.
Currently, agricultural activity in Sierra Leone is at an all-time low owing to lack of public and private sector investment in the agricultural sector.
The situation, no doubt, permanently places Sierra Leone as one of the biggest importers of rice in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a result, a bag of rice is now close to Le 3000,000 the equivalent of US$30 while a cup of rice stands at almost Le 2,000.
The mass exodus of youths from the provinces to the capital city, Freetown and some urban centres in Sierra Leone may not be unconnected to the little agricultural investment in Sierra Leone.
The elderly, weak and famished are left in the villages and towns to carry out agricultural activities using traditional and age-old implements.
The farming model is age-old and primitive with less food produced which cannot cater for the consumption needs of the subsistent producers let alone the country’s exploded population.
In the midst of a terrible situation in the country’s agricultural sector, Professor Monty Jones, an eminent Sierra Leonean agriculturist and researcher living in the diaspora was brought back home sometime in 2014 to address the problem of poor agriculture in the country.
Prof. Jones was made Minister of Agriculture upon his return so that he could be on the driving seat to move the country’s agriculture.
His coming was timely considering the country’s deteriorating agriculture and successes he recorded in 55 countries in the world where he implemented and managed agricultural projects as Chairman of Global Agricultural Forum.
At the time Prof. Jones was made Minister of Agriculture, Parmindar Brar was the World Bank Country Director in Sierra Leone.
In his World Bank Office in Freetown, Brar announced a US$55,000,000 Small Holder Commercialisation Project to be implemented in the country.
The said sum was meant to be injected into the country’s agriculture to empower small-holder farmers and to boost food productivity.
The aspirations of Professor Jones and Country Rep. Brar were counterproductive as their dreams were never realised.
President Julius Maada Bio is here with a big promise of boosting agriculture. The promise was manifested in his campaign Manifesto, 2018.
Now, the ISA/Agrotop professionals are also here to boost Sierra Leone’s agriculture.
It is aimed at providing not only food for Sierra Leoneans but also jobs and livelihoods.
But the actions of the former and current Ministers of Agriculture seem to undermine President Bio’s plans of an improved agricultural sector.