April 1, 2021
The Government of H.E. President Julius Maada Bio, through the Ministry of Youth Affairs, earlier this month (March 2021) embarked on the creation of more than ten thousand job opportunities for young people across the country. According to the Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura, the Chiefdom Youth Farm Experimentation Project would be implemented through the Youth in Agriculture Project under the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
The Chiefdom Youth Farm Experiment Project is one of President Julius Maada Bio’s initiatives to enhance food availability and food self-sufficiency, drastically cut down the importation of rice, minimizes youth unemployment and overall, alleviates poverty in the country.
Minister Bangura noted that to augment the distribution of youth employment opportunities across the country, the chiefdoms visited would employ 35 males and 15 females. He informed that a total of 50 youth per Chiefdom would directly benefit from the project.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security to implement the Chiefdom Youth Farm Experiment Project.
On its part, the Ministry of Agriculture would provide the needed technical support while the Ministry of Youth Affairs implements and supervise the project.
During a brief statement to the audience, the Minister of Youth Affairs, Hon. Mohamed Orman Bangura analyzed the new policy-shift that the government has put in place to expedite the deployment of agricultural machinery, supply of seeds, fertilizers and how to provide other technical supports to youths in all the districts.
Hon. Orman Bangura noted that the Government of President Julius Maada Bio is determined not to get it wrong. According to him, successive governments had tried to implement similar projects but failed. “It is because the projects were politicized; making the deployment of machines, supplying of seeds and fertilizers and the provision of other technical supports delayed due to rigorous procurement procedures. To get it right this time, our government has decided to partner with private investors for the distribution of seeds and fertilizers, deployment and management of farming equipment and the provision of other technical supports,” the minister explained.
The Minister also engaged and urged able-bodied-men and women, Paramount Chiefs and other stakeholders across the country to embrace the project.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs on Friday 26th March concluded the nation-wide tour on Social Mobilization, Identification and Mobilization of Youth Groups to implement the Chiefdom Youth Farm Experiment Project.
Remarkably, all the targeted stakeholders pledged wholeheartedly to undertake the project.