The Contribution of Journalists Against Hunger to the Feed Salone Initiative

By Lansana Fofanah – CEO, Journalists Against Hunger

When His Excellency the President, Julius Maada Bio won the June 2023 election, the Feed Salone Program became part of the big Five Game Changers of his government by allocating 10% of the national budget to the Feed Salone Program within the next five years.

The Feed Salone initiative was borne out of the desire of His Excellency to fight hunger by boosting local food production; albeit the huge quantum of money the country spends in importing the staple food rice and other commodities.

Believing in the vision and leadership of the president, I deployed my wealth of media experience and established the Journalists Against Hunger, not just as an advocacy network, but to embark on farming as well.

*The Challenges*

Farming used to be a lucrative venture for locals as it serves as the basic source of livelihood for subsistence farmers and their families thereby easing the dependency on imported rice.

But the movement of youths from the rural areas to big towns for greener pastures, has adversely affected the farming culture in the rural areas mainly due to lack of labor.

Most of them now pursue trade in ‘Okada’ commercial motorcycles and tricycles transportation.

The Feed Salone initiative of President Bio and the expected mechanization plan, was meant to serve as a motivation for those aspiring to revive and embark on agriculture.

Being one of the sons of a Master farmer in Biriwa Chiefdom in the 90s, engaging landowners in Kamathun village, Biriwa Chiefdom, Bombali district, didn’t come with much hassle as they embraced the project wholeheartedly.

The role of the Agriculture ministry is crucial in the success or failure of the Presidential Feed Salone initiative.

Several meetings with stakeholders in the agricultural ministry’s Bombali District office for government support in terms of machine and seedlings yielded no positive result as they told us in December 2023 that, we were late for the next planting season which starts in May/June 2024, and we can only be captured in the data base for the 2025 season.

Several personalities and offices were contacted including the Youth Ministry which is supposed to have a project for Youth in Farming and the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Musa Kpaka. But the needed help was never forthcoming.

Our last resort was to hire private tractors at an exorbitant cost higher than what the government was supposed to be charging.

Getting certified rice from the ministry was not possible either and we had to purchase from locals based on the historicity of the ROC 93 variety in that inland valley swamp.

As harvesting season approaches its peak in November, the purchasing of 70 mini combined harvesters by the Agriculture ministry through the Food Security Resilient Project (FSRP) was supposed to serve as a solace for farmers whose produce cannot be harvested by hands due to the vastness.

According to the Bombali district officers in the Ministry of Agriculture, out of the 70 purchased mini-harvesters, only three mini harvesters were supplied to Makeni and only one mini-harvester for Kabala amidst hundreds if not thousands of farmers painfully waiting to harvest their produce.

Getting those machines, highly depend on how connected one is to those in charge.

This brought in big fortune for those with combined harvesters as they charged exorbitant amounts per hour with other requirements to meet; an experience we had to undergo to save our produce.

Those who couldn’t meet the criteria had to resort to manual harvesting which led to post harvest loss.

More Needs To Be Done:

President Bio has demonstrated the political will and desire to make Sierra Leone a food self-sufficient nation. Therefore, those assigned with such a task should have no excuse or whatsoever reason to fail the president or the nation.

Historically, Sierra Leone is said to have arable lands with great agricultural potentials capable of feeding its people and even serving as a base for regional exports.

Several projects by successive government including the Tormabum rice project were expected to turn such theories into practice. But sadly, there is a large disconnection between real farmers and those supposed to be in charge of supporting them since the table-farming method is still visible; billions of projects monies spent on surveys and soil sampling without the real farmers benefiting.

One could only realize the frustration and painful experience of farmers in Sierra Leone when you embark on farming.

Some regions are being considered less when it comes to agricultural support to farmers which, if not addressed, will defeat the purpose of the Feed Salone initiative.

Despite the numerous media engagements and evidence-based videos of our productive rice farm, it failed to attract the attention of stakeholders including the Agriculture Minister who was being informed throughout the entire farming process.

Way Forward:

Our engagement in farming in 2024, serves as a manifestation that, Sierra Leoneans are willing to respond to the call of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio to feed the nation.

Despite the challenges, our little effort yielded over 400 bushels in our first attempt which has motivated us to do more in the new year.

We created jobs for women and youths in our farming community throughout the process by employing over two hundred women and youths during the grass weeding process and the cleaning of the rice after harvesting. But the challenges of mechanized farming implements and timely support, seem to deter many people since farming is cost intensive.

Subsistence farmers are willing to switch to mechanized farming. But the challenge of being incorporated into the new system is deterring them. This brings in the work of District agricultural offices to engage farming communities across the country, and to see how realistic challenges could be addressed.

Productive inland valley swamps are no longer utilized by farmers since they don’t have the manpower capacity to farm.

There should be a transparent platform to capture the views and concerns of farmers that should be monitored by the president or a committee dedicated to the Feed Salone initiative. This will give real-time information to the President on the status of farming in every region.

Meanwhile, the dependence on imported rice in the country, is a justification that, the private sector is far from realizing food sufficiency in the country no matter the support.

Companies that are supplying rice in the country, have settled for the commissions and big profit, and they have no intention to embark on farming.

Therefore, the idea of establishing regional farms by the government will go a long way in not only saving donor funds meant for agricultural purposes but creating job opportunities for youths in their communities. Only large-scale mechanized farming is the solution to Feed Salone!