Statements and commitments were made by the Minister of Finance, Minister of Trade and Industry, Director General (NASSIT), Chief Minister and private entrepreneur. Wilfred Sam-King. The theme of the launching was: Beyond Boundaries.
According to Dr. Jalloh they are engaged in creative thinking on how government ministers including himself as vice president can run farms, stating that their government came into office when the country was rated as the third hungriest in the world.
Dr. Jalloh maintained that attempts in tackling hunger by the past government, resulted to millions of US Dollars spent yearly importing rice the staple food. “This state of affairs as seen in the eyes of the President is unacceptable, and I must say that is why our government has placed emphasis and pre-eminence for Sierra Leone to be able to feed itself and export rice like it did decades ago.”
“Successive governments spent an average of over four hundred million US dollars on importing specifically rice,” Dr. Jalloh said.
According to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Joseph Ndanema, the agriculture ministry is the center place to mobilize partners toward the transformative agenda of the president, adding that upon assuming office the department has conducted a situational assessment of the ministry.
He added that there is poor development of the value chain in the agriculture sector but said he was hopeful that with the intervention of the VP, the sector will grow.
