Female Farmers in Bamoi Luma in Magbema Chiefdom, Kambia district in the north of Sierra Leone, have on Wednesday March 3, 2021 pleaded to be provided with hoes, shovels, rakes, seeds and other farming tools so that they would increase the land under cultivation, produce more food for the nation and make a decent living for themselves.
The women in this Chiefdom usually cultivate lettuce, Okra; Corn, Potatoes, Cassava, Cabbage, Groundnut and many other crops.
Salamatu Sesay, the Chairlady of female farmers in Magbema, said they make their living from growing crops some of which, after harvesting at the end of the planting season, they sell and the rest they reserve as seeds for the next planting season.
She complained that they do not have ideal storage facility to keep their produce, and sometimes part of harvest which they reserve as seeds for the following planting season rot, adding that this sometimes restrict them from farming, and also disabling them from being self-reliant.
Sesay explained because they could not afford much fertilizers, seeds, pesticide and insecticides, the yield of their crops is low and the quantum of their produce at the end of the season is not good to write home about.
“If fertilizers are accessible, we would do more farming that would help us and our families. Our fields are fertile, but due to lack of tools and seeds to plant, we could not get enough harvest,” she emphasized, adding that the situation is preventing them from achieving the primary purpose for which they engage in farming to help reduce the burden on the government.
She further stated that agriculture is the backbone to any nation’s economy, adding, “Government could not do all that we may need, but if we are supported in farming we would support ourselves and even the nation.”
Aminata Kamara, who grows pepper, onion, cabbage explained thus: “Since my husband was sacked from his job, I became the bread winner of the family. I decided to engage myself in farming, so that, I would support the family. I feed over five children from the crop which I cultivate.”
She went on to complain that every year she encounters a huge challenge in acquiring basic farming needs like seeds, adding “I usually lend seeds from my friends, and after I harvest my crops I give them back with interest.”
She added that through Agriculture some of them had been able to support their young folks from Primary schools to the Tertiary level of education.
She appealed to the Government of Sierra Leone to support them with farming tools, seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
11/03/2021. ISSUE NO: 8018