August 2, 2021
By: Aruna Kamara (Bo)
Solidaridad, which is an international civil society organization has worked with Government and other organizations to ensure Policies are formulated to give a boost to the agricultural sector for farmers to benefit from the cultivation of cocoa, Coffee and cashew crops in the country.
Speaking to A-Z Newspaper in Bo, the Program Manager of Solidaridad, Luseni S.F Kappia said that they are working with over thirty five thousand farmers across the country but they are specialized in cash crops including Cocoa,Coffee and Cashew crops.
He however said that there are numerous problems faced by the farmers including the accessibility of improved variety of crops, inadequate tools, and problem with land tenure system, adding that there are no good agricultural practices adopted and sustained but with the boosting of the food security project supported by European Union through the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the problems of the farmers will be addressed.
He said that Solidaridad however thought it necessary that a policy for each of the cash crops be formulated and popularized so that the value chain actors will know what to do at the right time and when to do it.
Mr. Kappia said that they have worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and they have pushed for the enactment of the Cocao, Coffe and Cashew policies, and that they are now engaging the media in order to popularize it.
According to him, in order to ensure sustainability of their work, Solidaridad is therefore working with the private sectors and the Ministry of Agriculture so that when the project is phased out, their intervention can be sustained.
The farmers Mr. Kappia said will largely benefit from the policies, citing farmers who know the market price of their cash crops, trading the products in the country, bring foreign exchange to the country and that the policies are also pushing for inter-cropping.
He added that the farmers will also benefit from improved varieties of their crops so that they will not wait for five years to harvest and the policy is also pushing for gender inclusion as the women will now have access to land to embark on farming.
Mr.Kappia cautioned that if you know you studied agriculture the paper will be nothing if the knowledge is not put into practice and also called on those who stick to the old method of farming to deviate from it and adopt the improved system as there is climate change disturbing farming.
“The diamonds and other minerals are diminishing so it is good that the people invest in agriculture to ensure food security and to enhance their livelihoods,’’ he said.