June 15, 2021
By Dadson A. Musa
West Africa Rice Component {WARC}, is a private company that has operated in this country for eleven years.
The company has a presence in Tormabum and they are engaged in rice and maize production.
It has it’s headquarter located at 30 Battery street, Kingtom, Freetown.
They produce approximately 30,000 bushels of rice a year. The brands of rice they produce include; Nerica, Jigor, Balanta, Pakiam , Bobby and Galuwai.
They have the capacity to cultivate 1500-2000 hectares of land per year.
The soil in Tormabum is “fertile and productive” according to the programme manager, Mr. Brima Kpakra.
Basically, they are helping farmers with out-growing; registering them, identifying the right piece of land for farming, prepare the farm, etc with farmers. It is a private investment mainly focused on rice production. Before undertaking any work for the farmers, they signed agreement with the farmers or farmer groups. It is this agreement that they will work on for any future legal disagreement.
After carrying out specific functions for these farmers they are either paid in cash or rewarded with rice.
WARC has signed an MOU with the Regional Rice Value Chain which has been officially launched by H.E Dr. Julius Maada Bio and will be helping with its implementation to a large extent as per agreement. Their work depends on “profitability and what is on offer”
Asked whether farmers in that part of the country can afford to pay for farming that is mechanized, Mr. Brima Kpakra remarked that so far they have been coping with the payment without cause to complain.
They have brought in expert engineers to help start the project but Sierra Leoneans have been slowly taking over, paying due diligence to local content. Their company has brought employment already for a good number of residents of Tormabum before the launch of the Rice Value Chain. This has been turning around the economic fortunes of people of the town.
Their work has been helping government with local rice production and government in turn has been helping them with duty waivers which is a boost to their business. In terms of expanding their work, he was honest enough to admit that they will be needing help from either government or other international development partners. Tormabum is a town located along the Sewa River in Sierra Leone and not too far from the Atlantic Ocean. It is a viable farming site that can allow for a year round cultivation of rice and other crops. This is because the land is easily irrigable which is why the government selected it for the rice value chain project.