By Amin Kef Sesay
The Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) has on the 9th, 10th and 11th December 2021 engaged sorghum farmers in Bo, Kenema and Kailahun Districts with the avowed aim of encouraging and attracting them to cultivate more sorghum to yield an increased quantity for onward sale to the Brewery. Engagements in the different districts took the form of radio discussion programs, farm visits, stakeholder engagements, meetings with youth farmer groups etc.
The outgoing Corporate Affairs Manager of SLBL, Albert Ojo Collier, the Corporate Affairs Manager Designate, Foday Daboh, the Corporate Affairs Assistant Manager, Unisa Conteh and the Local Sourcing Coordinator, Joseph Edson Sesay were the SLBL officials who engaged the sorghum farmers in all the aforementioned districts.
It could be recalled that SLBL successfully completed its campaigns during the post-harvest period in 2020 and the Pre-planting period in early 2021, before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Sierra Leone.
Lamentably, the effects of COVID-19 ruined much that should have been gained but nonetheless the resolve and commitment, on the part of SLBL and its partners, to promote the country’s local content policy and develop agriculture for the benefit of farmers have remained intact.
According to Albert Ojo Collier, “Working together with the Sorghum Procurement Team, we have decided to continue to take a proactive step to engage the farmers to not succumb to the calls of other parties in the form of pre-harvest feedback and encouragement to the farmers and the rural stakeholders who were there with us all these years to develop sorghum roots across districts.”
He continued by intimating this medium that they are now going across Sierra Leone again to encourage more farmers to go into sorghum cultivation, while at the same time monitor and advice farmers who have harvested their grains to supply to the Brewery on sales.
It is on record that for quite a considerable period of time now the relationship between SLBL and Sorghum farmers has been very cordial. As a matter of fact the partnership between the two has contributed to job creation, in the form of commercial farming, for over 25,000 Sierra Leonean farmers country-wide thereby helping towards poverty reduction. One cannot say it is an exaggeration to underpin that the standards of living of sorghum farm families has improved considerably, with cascading effects, out of what they realize after the sale of their harvested produce to SLBL.
“We are very happy with the way and manner in which SLBL is empowering Sorghum farmers in the country and we are doing everything humanely possible to ensure that the mutual relationship is improved for the benefit of all and in the best interest of the country,” Joseph Edson Sesay, the Local Sourcing Coordinator stated.
It must be noted that Sorghum is used in the production of some of the beverages that the company manufactures for sale to members of the public.
