Faith Healing Agricultural Project (F.H.A.P) joins the list of history makers in the Agricultural sector in Sierra Leone when it officially launched its brand of rice to the public on Friday at the farm in Yainkassa village, Makari Chiefdom, Bombali District, northern Sierra Leone. The church’s FHAP project is geared towards making Sierra Leone food sufficient, and help drive away extreme poverty, in the country where agriculture is largely believed to be the solution to end perennial hunger.
During the launch of the, long-grain, organic, nicely packaged 50kg and 25kg parboiled rice, the Director of Faith Healing Agricultural Project, Pst. Francis A. M. Mambu, the farmer/preacher, while talking about the added value they have imputed into the rice production said, he is so impressed because when he got the call from God to start the farm project, he started with absolutely nothing, with the aim of supporting the community people living in the rural areas.
Rice is the staple food of majority of Sierra Leoneans, eaten on a daily basis by almost every household and the most important food crop widely grown by farmers across the country. This year FHAP farm planted 500-acre rice, the second local farm in the entire country to achieve such, which is currently being harvested, as the Director stated that by next year he aims to increase in that acreage if given the needed support.
Pst. Mambu, who was awarded as Sierra Leone’s Food security Ambassador by the Africa Agric Links, stated that the farm project is supporting 450 women in six (6) villages in Bombali; Royeama, Maronko, Royanka, Woreh-Yeama, Yainkasa and GbomSamba, not just with seed rice, ploughing for their farms etc, but also with cash in the micro finance boxes representing each village as start-ups to help settle other family needs. He had initially made a cash deposit of ten million five hundred thousand (Le10,500,000), but today this scheme is boasting of accumulating up to thirty (30) to sixty (60) million Leones for some villages.
While thanking the chief of Yainkassa and other important people and organisations that are extending a supporting hand to the farm such as Rev. Steve Harman, Ken Royal Foundation, B.W.A, Pst. Mambu highlighted the challenges faced by the farm, such as tractors, finance and other farm machineries as his vision is to extend this farm project to every district in the country. He craved the support of government to be able to undertake such project as he plans to process Bombali gari and build a centre for rice milling by November at Yainkassa.
The District Agriculture Officer, David Sellu Sallu representing the Minister of Agriculture, thanked F.H.A.P for such great achievement as he did the symbolic harvesting of the 500-acre rice farm and promised the ministry’s support to the F.H.A.P. and rice production in the entire country. He stated that the government is spending about $200 million per year just to import rice and to feed a population of seven (7) million, seven hundred thousand (700,000) metric tons of rice is need. He stated that Sierra Leone has the land to produce such rice, “people only need to follow the footstep of Pst. Mambu.”
The Chief of Yainkassa village, Abdul Koroma and the chairlady of women’s groups Zainab R. Kamara thanked the Director and CEO of F.H.D.O, Pastor Mambu for putting the village in the global spotlight through the farm project which according to him has contributed to making their lives better, and added his voice to the call on government and local and international non-governmental organizations to support the Servant of God.
13/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7929