Pastor Francis A.M Mambu, one of Sierra Leone’s fearless man of God, has stated that the seriousness of past and present governments regarding the development of agriculture is almost a laughing matter.
Pastor Mambu, on Sunday, expressed it’s unfortunate for a country that once helped in solving the world’s food crisis to be lamenting over shortages of onions and other foodstuffs today.
He asserted that no one would contend that agriculture is the best sector to resuscitate Sierra Leone’s economy; and that the country is blessed with a favorable agricultural environment comprising arable land, plentiful rainfall, a temperate climate, and numerous rivers with important irrigation potential that could support the production of food enough to meet local consumption as well as for export.
The founder and CEO of Faith Healing Agricultural Project, a farmer with a proven agricultural record of accomplishment spanning over 20 years, asked how serious are Sierra Leoneans to really improve agriculture as 80 percent of foodstuffs consumed in the country are imported considering an estimated 5.4 million hectares of fertile arable land and ample rainfall of 3,800mm annually, but 75 percent of such arable land remains uncultivated.
He said the country spends over $240 million on importation of rice (the country’s staple food) annually.
Pastor Mambu advised that if the agriculture sector, which is dominated by smallholder subsistence farmers utilizing local traditional tools with outdated methods and limited farm inputs, challenged by poor governance and management, weak infrastructure and corruption, then three agricultural approaches must be taken into consideration :
1. the government must separate the agriculture ministry from politics, citing that politics has not helped as it has damaged the mindset of the farmers to the extent that some farmers now believe that all investors in agriculture are politicians even if they are not, and others are of the belief that everything they need to help them in farming is in the hands of politicians, a reason running after politicians for the least farm inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, to mention some, eventually cause them to miss farming if they don’t get such for a particular farm year. Even if a particular farmer is doing well, he will not benefit from the seeds or tractors supplied by the ministry if he does not affiliate with or belong to a political party in power.
2. there are not enough seeds and suppliers in the country, a reason the available seeds, if exhausted by continuous planting of the same over and over, will reduce the amount of yield each year. When there is increase in the supply and suppliers of seeds, agriculture will improve.
3. agriculture is all about timing, a reason supplying agricultural inputs such as seeds to farmers at the wrong time of the season will cause farmers to miss farming that year; or if they farm, farmers will record low or poor yield. He advised on improvement in the timing for supply of inputs to farmers.
The revered man of God noted that with agriculture, it is possible to stimulate economic growth, “if we are serious about improving our domestic rice production to reduce imports and create jobs for the country’s national development and enhance food self-sufficiency.”
