By: Mohamed M. Sesay
The 34 Million Dollars Regional Rice Value project is indeed a breakthrough for food insufficiency not only for Sierra Leone, but for West Africa by extension.
The Regional Rice Value Chain project has its project locations at Toma Bum Chiefdom in the Bonthe District, Southern Sierra Leone, and Mambolo and Samu Chiefdoms in Kambia District, North-Western Region of Sierra Leone.
The Regional Rice Value Chain is a five year project conceived by the Government of Sierra Leone in 2018.
The laudable motive of such colossal investment in the agricultural sector is to reduce rice importation and forestall food insecurity.
The project is supported by the Islamic Development Bank and the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) with a 34 million dollars splash. The Islamic Development Bank contributes 60% of the funds, BADEA 35% and with a 5% counterpart financing from the Government of Sierra Leone.
The farm production aspect of the project is still at a snail pace because BADEA has not unleashed its 35% funding towards the farm production.
However, government has stridden to finance some of what BADEA is to allocate for the farm production component.
That initial financing from government has aided the cultivation of 3000 hectares of rice farms across the two districts. As assured by the Project Coordinator, bumper harvest of 3000 hectares is highly anticipated in the next three months in all of the project sites. Hope is alive for food sufficiency in Sierra Leone as the Regional Rice Value Chain expands. With the anticipated cultivation of 35,000 hectares, at least 105,000 tons of rice will be produced quarterly under the Regional Rice Value Chain Project.
The Project Coordinator Abdulai Bum Wai, intimated A-Z Africa Magazine that the Regional Rice Value Chain Project is targeting 7000 Small Holder Farmers of which each farmer is expected to cultivate five hectares of rice farms each year. The total targeted area of farm under the Regional Rice Value Chain is 35,000 hectares.
“That is a lot of rice farms under cultivation by this project. This was expected to be achieved in five years period. We are sure to achieve this before the end of the expected five years giving the pace at which we are going”, the Project Coordinator Abdulai Bum Wai revealed.
Abdulai Bum Wai further disclosed that the project implementation is organized into five segments which are all geared towards bringing in the private sector. The intention of bringing in the private sector players is to ensure sustainability of the Regional Rice Value Chain which will eventually mitigate or eradicate food insecurity in the country.
The National Coordinator acknowledged the very fact that the small holder farmers are not considered as commercially viable entities across Africa. In lieu of that, the Regional Rice Value Chain project has seen the inevitable necessity to bring in Private Sector Players, in order to incorporate Small Holder Famers into the project in order to transform them into viable commercial entities.
The entire Regional Value Rice Chain Project is segmented into five components. The first component has to look at the seeds production and availability of quality and quantity input. It is a clear manifestation that seeds and other Agro-chemical fertilizers are the driving forces for remarkable agricultural output. The second component of the project is the Paddy production component. The paddy production component is where quality rice production hinges. The Project is bringing in special emphasis on Paddy Production in order to increase rice productivity of Small Holder Farmers.
As it stands, Sierra Leone Produces rice with an average of one ton per hectare which is very abysmal. Under the Paddy Production component, the Project Coordinator assured that 7000 farmers will be divided into a thousand farmers for each Agri-Business with an anticipation of having seven Private Sector Players to work with seven thousand Small Holder Farmers. The candid motive for the Paddy production component is to transmogrify farmers from producing one ton of rice to at least five tons of rice per hectare within the period under review. To achieve such goal, capacity building of Small Holder Farmers has been embedded into the Regional Rice Value Chain Project.
The third component under the Regional Rice Value Chain is the processing aspect of rice.
The National Project Coordinator Abdulai Bum Wai expressed undying expectation for Sierra Leone to be producing and processing high quality rice that is standardized for exportation. But such could only actualize if one has the required processing machines. Thus, the Regional Rice value Chain Project is going to bring in four Integrated Processing Mills into Sierra Leone. Those machines are expected to be installed in the next couple of months. The Integrated Processing Machines included driers, parboilers, Cleaners, Polishers among others.
The forth component of the Regional Rice Value Chain is the marketing component wherein, a dedicated outfit or Private Sector will come in and buy rice produced by the mill so that the rice can reach the intended markets.
Abdulai Bun Wai, the Project Coordinator therefore, has made a clarion call on all rice importers to offtake the rice and put it in the market for sale at an accessible and affordable rate.
The fifth and final component of the Regional Rice Value Chain is the access to finance. The Regional Rice Value Chain project is equally looking for a private bank that will handle the facility of all incorporated private sector players. Prior to the launch of this all-important Regional Rice Value Chain project, Sierra Leone has just been focusing on producing rice at a very infinitesimal rate.
Blind eyes have been paid to seedlings for next cultivation. With the Regional Rice Value Chain, specific focus will be paid in studying the West African Market in order to evaluate what type of product or rice that best suits the West African rice market.
The Project Coordinator also stated; “since we are competing with the imported rice, we want to do things and produce a product that the Sierra Leonean vast majority will appreciate, demand and can afford. The project has succeeded in bringing the seeds sector to a sharp focus and as a matter of fact, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) has been supported with about $ 600,000 in order to be effective in producing breeder seeds. Support to SLARI is also to help produce the type of rice Sierra Leone wants, and the type of rice that is in high demand in the sub-region. The inevitability of bringing in genetic materials from other countries and adopt it to the Sierra Leone condition, has been accentuated by the project”.
The Regional Rice Value Chain project has also allocated $2 million into the Apex Bank in order to create access to finance by Small Holder Farmers. The Project has two portions which are; the Farm Supporting Infrastructure and the Farm Production. The Farm Supporting Infrastructure is supported by the Islamic Development Bank whilst the Farm Production is partially supported by BADEA. But as it stands, only the Islamic Development Bank has objectified their indelible support through signing a financing agreement with government. Unlike the Islamic Development Bank, BADEA has not signed the financing agreement with government which has left the 35% funding of the project in pending.
Another important component under the Reginal Rice Value Chain is the warehouse wherein, finished product of rice and seedlings will be stored for future cultivation. Work is at an advanced stage for the construction of three large scale warehouses. The project is also at an expeditious acceleration for building a large market complex for selling of rice and other related products from the project. As part of the generic credo that good road network aids smooth agricultural activities, the Regional Rice Value Chain is also constructing and rehabilitating fielder roads across all farming communities that fall within the project sites. Portable drinking water facilities will also be established for both the market complex and the farming communities. In addendum to the aforementioned, an office complex will also be established which will enhance accommodation for staff at Toma Bum site in the Southern Region, and that of Samu and Mambolo Chiefdoms in the Kambia District, North-Western Region of Sierra Leone respectively. This is indeed a trusted and steady progress towards addressing food insecurity across West Africa.
