By Mohamed Lamin Massaquoi, Information Attachè, United Arab Emirates
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday 22 March 2021 – Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, UAE, Rashid Sesay, has met with the leadership of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, ICBA in Dubai, where he called for more support to Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector.
ICBA is an UAE based international nonprofit agricultural research centre that is currently working on a four-year project in Sierra Leone to increase agricultural productivity and incomes of households in salinity-affected communities.
The project also aimed to increase salt tolerant crops and associated best management practices, develop value chains for introduced cropping systems and build capacity of farmers and extension workers in salinity-resilient and climate smart agriculture.
ICBA Acting Director General, Dr Tarifa Ajeif Al Zaabi, maintained that Sierra Leone was one of their countries of operations where they were working towards creating an impact in local communities while keeping an eye on capacity building and research with community members. She noted that the visit was timely because it allowed further engagement on more areas of collaboration.
She added their vision was to provide sustainable livelihoods and food security in marginal environments through advancing sustainable food, feed and biofuel agri-technologies, promoting sustainable management of natural resources, enhancing agricultural value chains and providing climate change solutions.
On his part, Ambassador Sesay said that he had shown so much passion for the work done by the ICBA for which his team was visiting to discuss their work in Sierra Leone and to explore other opportunities with a view to address the challenges faced by small scale farmers, as part of government’s commitment to improve the country’s agricultural sector.
He mentioned Sierra Leone had established a National Seed Certification Agency that worked closely with farmers to ensure the provision of improved variety of seeds to improve on food productivity. He also encouraged ICBA to provide more assistance to his country particularly for women and youth involved in agriculture.
ICBA operates a modern research facility with a team of international scientists conducting applied research and development to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in marginal and saline environments.
Photo Credit: ICBA Dubai
