Effective farming activities are ongoing on the four hundred thousand hectares of farmland in the project site of Torma Bum, Bonthe District.
The successful signing of a contract with Spectrum Engineering Consultants/DTI for the design and supervision of irrigation infrastructure for the 4,000 hectares of farmland has seen significant changes to the project.
The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, had contracted the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI), to undertake a soil fertility mapping study on the soil type. The soil mapping was for the project to determine the different types of soil, their nutrients, and fertility rates in that part of the country.
The Director of the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI), Dr. Abdul R. Conteh, on behalf of his colleagues, said work on the activity has been put on hold as a result of the current global fuel crisis. He said despite the fact that the delay might not be too long, it has the tendency to slow its operations as well as that of the large-scale agricultural activity in the Bonthe District.
Although they apologized for the delay, they said they could not purchase materials and substances needed in the lab to effectively do their job, but advised that additional time be given to them in order to complete the job.
He said the complete report would be useful to the project and the country in particular because, according to him, it would guide the types and quantity of fertilizer to be applied on a particular site to increase yield and as well prevent wastage of fertilizer.
Despite the delay, he informed us of the major progress made and promised to submit the final report in the not-too-distant future, after they would have analyzed all satellite images obtained from different targeted locations.
The Project Coordinator of the Regional Rice Value Chain Project, Abdulai Bun Wai, expressed gratitude to the team for working hard towards the delivery of a report that will reflect the wishes and aspirations of citizens. He commended the SLARI for the progress made so far amid the challenges and urged the soil scientists to present their first draught report of their findings.
The Project Irrigation and Civil Engineer, Alhaji Mohamed Sesay, said the study would embody the development of maps with grids indicating the various soil types collected and analyzed, including a soil management plan. He expressed optimism about the process leading to the soil fertility mapping report and called on the soil experts to be careful and work with due diligence in the interest of national development.
The team from SLARI working on the soil fertility mapping are Dr. Abdulai Conteh, Professor Patrick Sawyer, and Alie Kamara.Report by
Amara Brima and Christiana M. Amara contributed to this report.
(Interns, Development Communication, Njala University)
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