By Politico Staff Writer
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka has said that the ambitious ‘Feed Salone’ programme launched by President Julius Maada Bio will transform food systems, create jobs for women and youth, and boost economic growth in the West-African nation.
He was speaking at the formal launch of the ‘Alliance of Champions for Food System Transformation,’ at COP28 in Dubai attended also by other dignitaries from the country and Co-chaired by Sierra Leone, Norway and Brazil on the 10th December, 2023.
Dr. Kpaka described the bloc as a group of ambitious countries determined to act urgently to address the gaps on food systems.
“The situation in Sierra Leone is unsustainable. Since the war in Ukraine began last year, we have seen unprecedented levels of disruption across food, energy and fertilizer markets. Our food import bill has gone up by 40%, and food price inflation of over 50% has driven higher levels of food insecurity. Weather changes are making the lives of everyone in Sierra Leone more difficult,” he said.
He said that President Bio has five strategic objectives to achieve food security, increase exports, create jobs especially for women and youth, alleviate hunger and malnutrition and build resilient food system. He said Sierra Leone would achieve those objectives through strategic initiatives ranging from mechanization and irrigation to enhancing access to climate-resilient seeds and inputs.
He added that they aim to transform the agricultural landscape, improve aggregation, processing, and market linkages, and harness the power of climate-smart agriculture and AgTech by ensuring better access to finance and vitally empowering women and youth, who are the backbone of agricultural workforce.
On her part, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mariam Bint Almheiri said COP28 had provided a historic moment for the food systems as they had been able to get the political will and mobilize financing with $3.1 billion going into the food systems. She also disclosed that the signatories to the UAE Declaration on Food Systems, Agriculture and Climate had risen to 152 countries.
She stated that the food sector was proud of what had been achieved at the COP28, emphasizing that the event’s presidency had placed food systems at the heart of its agenda for the first time in its history providing an opportunity to accelerate efforts toward food security.
She noted that the top five priorities for implementing the Leaders Declaration would be scaling up adaptation and resilience activities to reduce impact on farmers, collectively working towards promoting food security and nutrition, focusing on supporting workers in the agriculture and food systems. She said women and youth livelihoods are threatened by climate change, and there’s need to embrace integrated strategy of managing water and agriculture food systems and maximizing the climate and environmental benefits by promoting and restoring land and natural ecosystem.
During his presentation at the COP28 on the 8th December, 2023, Chairman Presidential Initiative for Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella discussed efforts being made by President Julius Maada Bio to achieve food self-sufficiency in the next five years.
He said that Sierra Leone is among 134 countries that have signed the Leaders Declaration on Agriculture, Food and Climate to strengthen food systems, build resilience on climate change and aid the fight against hunger. He noted that the Food Alliance, due to be formally launched during the COP28, will provide roadmap to accelerate global partnerships on food security.
“We are very clear. Our President is leading in front. For us it’s action. We really want to be food self-sufficient. We are among the most vulnerable countries because of climate change. We want to embed energy solutions, decentralize energy solutions for the food system as well help the adaption and the resilience,” Dr. Yumkella said.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (15/12/23)
