By: Ilyasa Baa
The Presidential Spokesman who doubles as Minister for the Northwest Region, Hon. Dr Alpha Kanu has commended Bonthe District where he said the people are more passionate about farming than other districts.
He said early this year, while in Bonthe, he noticed farmers planting cassava and potato on the soil bulldozed on the roadside during the Mattru Road construction work. “After some time, what you see growing are cassava and potatoes which they can feed on”, said the Presidential Spokesman.
He called on Sierra Leoneans to embrace our foodstuffs such as rice and gari being grown in the country to reduce cost and discourage the high rate of smuggling of commodities to neighbouring Guinea. He said much of our gari is being transported by boats from Bambatoke to Guinea by Sierra Leoneans who sell to Guineans leading to incremental differential between the two currencies.
He compared that Guinea has a bigger economy with its earnings from the mines as the second largest producer of Bauxite and production ongoing, the country has sufficient forex as compared to Sierra Leone which is not producing but servicing its debts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Alpha Kanu has accompanied the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry to Port Loko where they are going to launch the Support to Farmers project which gears towards boosting a good number of farming families in the district. He said similar agricultural development will be undertaken in other districts as the government’s intervention towards food security which he said is being hampered by the twin shock of Ukraine – Russia war and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Alpha Kanu reiterates that the statement of US President Joe Biden on the global crisis justifies that the Government of Sierra Leone is not to blame for the high cost of living.
“What else can we do? We have exempted and reduced taxes on commodities imported into the country”, he concluded.