The fight against hunger, announced by President George Manneh Weah days following his overwhelming victory in 2018, appears to be gaining momentum in Porkpah District, Grand Cape Mount County, where the forty-five acres of rice farm cultivated by the district’s Representative, Bob Sheriff, is ready for harvest.
People from all walks of life, far and near converge on the farm each week to harvest the grain and feed their families.
The Hot Pepper’s reporter, who visited the rice field on the outskirt of Bamballah, the district’s headquarter, at the weekend described the initiative as a boost to the effort to eradicate hunger from the people of Porkpah, which has a population of over thirty thousand people.
Over eighty-five men took part in the clearing of the land in last February to grow not only the staple, rice, but other crops, including cassavas, yams, peppers, cucumbers and beans, all of which are widely eaten in the country.
The reporter also learned from the two-day tour of the district that the Cape Mount district #1 lawmaker has distributed several rice mills to major towns across the district to help farmers process their grain for sale.
The mills were installed in towns like Gargama, Jeijua, Mano-gleh, Bobah Junction, Laah and Zimi Ndandai.
Speaking to this paper in the district following the tour, Representative Bob Sheriff said his aim is to buttress the effort of President George Manneh Weah government’s pro-poor agenda for national salvation.
The lawmaker, who won the election in 2018 as an independent candidate, described President Weah as a farsighted leader who wants his people to be productive and self-sufficient, and underscored that the people should see reason to join him in the effort.
Representative Sheriff disclosed that his determination to make Cape Mount self-sufficient in food production has no link with his political ambition, but rather is in furtherance of his responsibility to deliver to his people.
He said the forty-five acres of farm land will be used to grow oil palm after the rice harvest to help future generations of Cape Mountainians gain employment and economic freedom.
Representative Bob Sheriff’s farm project is being managed by Boakai Kromah, an agro-specialist hired from the neighboring Sierra Leone, to assist with the farm work.
