The Minister of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED), Ms. Kenyeh Barlay on Saturday 18th May 2024 at the Tiama Secondary School compound, Tiama, officially distributed quality NERICA seed rice, fertilizers, buckets, hygiene kits including soap and towels for women and cash to 280 beneficiaries who were victims of the flooding disaster in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba District in 2022.
The project is titled ‘The ECOWAS Post- 2022 Flood Recovery Assistance-Sierra Leone Project.’
The government of Sierra Leone also made cash contributions to the disaster fund.
The funds for the donation were provided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to victims of the 2022 flooding in Moyamba, Kambia and Bonthe Districts respectively.
Each beneficiary received a bag of seed rice, fertilizer and transportation to return to their respective communities.
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED), Ms. Kenyeh Barlay disclosed that 12 communities in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba District are benefiting from the donation, that President Julius Maada Bio, who advocated to ECOWAS for the donation, is an action man, recalled that the Ministry of Agriculture made follow-up visits to Togo to actualize the program and promised to be visiting the flood affected areas.
She also dilated on the functions of her Ministry including planning for the entire country as well as the judicious use of its natural resources and articulated on Sierra Leone’s seven-years Mid-Term National Development Plan with the five big game changers to transform the country-Feed Sierra Leone, the main flagship program, Human Capital Development-the free quality education and healthcare, youth employment for 500 thousand youths, the country’s main resource, to prevent them from anti-social activities, infrastructural developments like roads, electricity and technology and reforming the civil service for efficiency.
The Minister went on to disclose that ECOWAS is constructing a depot at the Lungi International Airport and that ECOWAS Volunteers are in the country helping in the areas of education and healthcare among others.
The ECOWAS Representative in Sierra Leone disclosed that their support to the flood victims is in the spirit of solidarity and collaboration to a sister country that was affected by flooding during which lives and properties were lost.
He furthered that the ECOWAS community seeks to build resilience, that Member States wish Sierra Leone a more prosperous future and called for more and continued collaboration and unity.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture II, Mr. Sahr Hemoe underscored the timeliness of the donation for the farming season and appealed to farmers to make good use of the seedlings and fertilizers to actualize the country’s food security initiative to make provision for other farmers in the following years.
He also stated that the Ministry would monitor their farming activities as the country is tired of importing rice, onions and other foodstuffs asserting that agriculture is not a one man business.
According to the Deputy Minister, in December last year they visited Vietnam where they plant and harvest rice daily and is optimistic that Sierra Leone would also become rice sufficient and even export.
Mr. Osman Sankoh of the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that last year government sent a four-man delegation to Togo where they put the document together for the donation, that the District Agriculture Officers identified farmers for the support, that the supplier is working hard to deliver the seedlings and fertilizers on time and also assured that the quality seed rice was tested and certified and that the donated seedlings should form a Seed Bank for farmers.
Mr. Josephus Gbondo of the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Moyamba District also commended the Boris Foundation stressing that their key focus is women and children who are the most vulnerable during disasters, informed that they are working with other stakeholders to protect them and urged beneficiaries to judiciously utilize the items.
Earlier, the Representative of the Paramount Chief of Kori Chiefdom, Mr. Peter Yambasu, welcomed all to the ceremony and revealed that the chiefdom is blessed and more populated than the other affected chiefdoms.
The chairman of the ceremony and District Agricultural Officer, Moyamba, Mr. Samuel Benson Palmer commended ECOWAS for the donation and appeal to farmers not to eat or sell the seed rice but to plant them to increase rice production in the country.
Mr. Yaraba Koroma of Borish Foundation, recalled that when they received the list of victims from the Ministries of Agriculture and Social Welfare respectively and other stakeholders, farmers were re-verified to ascertain the actual number of beneficiaries after which they were trained on how to manage their swamps to prevent future floods and at the same time to become sustainable as they cannot continue begging donors all the time.
He continued that the 2022 flooding destroyed the rice farms of farmers, expressed thanks and appreciation to ECOWAS for the support and urged the beneficiaries not to sell or eat the seed rice but to plant them to yield more.
Ms. Jeneba Kamara from the Directorate of Food and Nutrition in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation revealed that their priority in such situations is support to women and children, the most vulnerable, in addition to providing technical support to Boris Foundation about the types and quantity of food to give the women and children who are victims.
Distribution of the items to beneficiaries climaxed the event.
