Harvest Time At Kabaya Farm

The President, Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, has commenced the second harvest at his rice farm near Freetown.

The President's engagement in agriculture has been consistent with his 2002 declaration of food security for all Sierra Leoneans by 2007.
During the exercise, which was graced by Ministers of government, Senior Civil Servants and members of the private sector including civil society, President Kabbah reiterated his resolve to create the enabling environment to ensure that come 2007, Sierra Leoneans should be in a position to feed themselves.

The President said that cultivating a farm for himself is to put words into action. He said having a farm himself demonstrates his commitment to his food security drive and said he doesn't just want to be telling people to plant what they eat, but that he should serve as an example to the people.

He,however, took the opportunity to appeal to people who want to turn the food security declaration into a political issue to desist from doing so. He said the issue of food security should be everyone's concern. Apart from being less expensive if we have enough of our own home-grown food on the market, the food is more nutritious as it will be fresh from the farms, unlike imported rice, which loses most of its food value because of the length of time it takes in the stores and on the high seas before it gets to our markets.

Last year, President Kabbah planted a total of thirty acres of rice. The harvest, he said, was ploughed back and that this year he was able to cultivate a total of eighty acres.

He therefore called on all Sierra Leoneans to embrace farming and other forms of agriculture, on whatever scale, as one of the surest ways of alleviating hardship and poverty and of contributing productively to the country's development.

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