EU Dishes Out € 2Million to Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institut
In order to help improve the livelihood of farmers in the tree crop, livestock and horticulture subsectors as well as export their products to boost the ailing economy, the European Union (EU) has generously dished out €2 million to the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) to carry out research in tree crop, livestock and horticulture sub sectors in Sierra Leone.
Speaking at a two day retreat at SLARI conference hall, Freetown, SLARI Acting Director General Dr.Matthew L.S.Gboku expressed his deep appreciation for the grant. He dwelled on the importance of the subsectors especially in helping to improve the quality of life of our farmers and generating needed foreign exchange for the country adding: “the grant will to this end help my Institute tackle some of the major research challenges facing the subsectors including inferior planting materials, pests and diseases, limited genetic base and marketing constraints”. He therefore strongly urged participants of the retreat to offer their best by giving an incisive reflection of how to meaningfully deliver the goods the project intends to offer to our farmers and the country as a whole. Presentation on cocoa, coffee, cashew, agroforestry and other fruit trees explained how the production of these tree crops during the life of the project can be productively enhanced and in a way that more money can be put into the pockets of our farmers and surplus exported to earn foreign exchange for the country. It also considered among many others the development of high yielding tree crop and fruit varieties, the raising of rootstocks for budding, establishing cocoa clonal garden, design for out planting; planting cocoa clones in the field, multiplying promising clones for field trials and the development of hybrids through manual pollination. The presentation also took into account capacity building including the training of field technicians, short term training for researchers and the farm manager. It also identified the development of viable agroforestry systems for cacao and coffee with time lines to undertake such operations including the acquisition of planting materials for both nursery and research purposes and establishment of nursery for propagation of trees. On the issue of horticultural crops, the benefits and challenges were highlighted and the vital need to characterize and select the best vegetable crop varieties. The retreat also examined the issues surrounding production and plant health management of horticultural crops, strengthening nutrient and food security through mushroom cultivation and marketing; screening, characterization and testing of new and or crops that are not fully utilized. While presentation and discussion was also done on the project procurement plan, multimedia approach was discussed as the most effective means to reach project audience. Considering the high degree of illiteracy among project target farmers and lack of power supply in most remote areas in the country farmers live, it was agreed with unanimity that SLARI Information, Communications and Documentation Unit should come up with a Communications Strategy in which case it will emphasize on the production and dissemination of extension materials including video and audio documentaries of technologies project farmers need to know about and adopt,postals and the use of community radio stations as well. |
Documents for Downloadhttps:/issuu.com/demoupload/docs/190119143851-7a5e5528d8be41439df9a13bbd0ea530?e=31850438/67190613
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