Sierra Leone to Flood with Bananas

Organic farming is a type of farming that excludes the use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and plant growth regulators, genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

It relies on traditional, science and innovation to benefit the farmer, soil, plant and animals within the ecosystem as well as the consumer.

On Saturday, the 22^nd August, 2015, the Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Alfred Sankoh, accompanied by Honorable Member of Parliament, Madam Hannah Bundu, witnessed a workshop at Songo Colony where eight (8) co-operative groups were being trained in the cultivation, processing and marketing of plantains/bananas.

The Honorable Member of Parliament expressed gratification over the initiative and commended the efforts of Friends of the African Dream, an NGO that has been sponsoring organic farmers Co-operatives to actualize the concept. The said NGO, for the past five years, has been engaged in development activities in Western Area Rural District, in the areas of Health, Education, Fisheries and assistance to the polios and amputees at Newton and Grafton, including agricultural activities in the Songo Colony and its environs. Its co-operation with the Sierra Leone Organic Farmers Cooperative (SLOFaC), therefore, came about as a strategic interface, just when the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, was seeking partners for the Co-operatives.

The honorable Member of Parliament, in concluding, informed the participants that she would do all in her capacity to pass on the information to her colleagues in parliament who may also be interested in establishing Plantain/banana farms through the Co-operative. She thanked the organizers of the workshop for their initiative to add such commercially viable crops to the list of commodities that could boost the economy of this country through export.

In his address, the Director-General lauded the efforts of FAD for providing the 1,200 suckers of Plantains that were to be supplied to the eight organic Co-operatives at Fabaina, Waterloo, Songo, Jabama, Brama, Makambie and Magbentha.

The D.G assured SLoFAC of his Ministry’s fullest support to carry out such a laudable venture to its logical conclusion, because, according to him, the Co-operative was operating in line with His Excellency’s Agenda for Prosperity, especially for rural communities targeted by the organization.

The training involved Organic Cultivation methods and principles as well as the practical/symbolic planting of a few suckers at the Songo Co-operative 40-acre Organic farm site.

The Secretary-General of SLoFAC, Joseph S. Lebbie, speaking to our agricultural correspondent after the training, said that their immediate objective is to flood the local market with plantains/bananas and ultimately to export to rich markets. He added that their strategy was aimed at making the country food sufficient, if not secured, within the next two years, for which reason they were putting in place measures to supply suckers to 2,243 Co-operatives (15 in each chiefdom).

He added that they had room to accommodate up to 200 individual capable farmers (ICF) to register with them.

He was convinced that their project would help farmers put extra cash in their pockets, provide staple food supplement, employment opportunities for the youth, and significantly contribute to the Nation GDP, as is the case in Uganda, Ghana, India and Tanzania, where farmers are engaged in similar venture.

By Joe-Nyangu

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