‘Socfin did not lease land for 100 years’ – says management
Freetown, Sept. (SLENA) – The management and Board of Directors of Socfin Agricultural Company Limited has debunked both newspaper and radio station reports that the company has leased plots of land in the Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District for one hundred years.
The company has dismissed those reports as false and baseless, claiming that the reports are the work of people they referred to as enemies of progress.
Speaking to SLENA, showing proof of evidence, one of the company’s board of directors said an agreement was signed between the company and the government of Sierra Leone for a lease of land in the Pujehun district for agricultural purposes and that the lease was to last for fifty years with effect from 1st October 2011 till 2060 and not one hundred years, as claimed.
The Director admitted that indeed the company did not sign any agreement directly with the land owners in the Malen chiefdom but with the Government of Sierra Leone which he says represents the interest of the people in that part of the country.
Meanwhile, reports say Socfin is currently constructing a $25 million palm oil mill in the chiefdom and when completed in two years time will serve as one of Africa’s biggest palm oil mill.
The company is also engaged in mechanized rice cultivation in order to provide food for the people of Malen chiefdom alongside the production of cassava and sweet potato to cushion the effects of food insecurity in the chiefdom.
AYK/SLENA
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