Rice growers transplanting their rice at the peak of the rains

The rice growers told this reporter that making fertilizer and farm implements available, affordable and timely for them, they can be able to produce 10 tons of paddy rice from a hectare. According to them, with 3000 hectares of rice field in Jahally and Parcharr, they are capable of producing 30,000 tons of paddy rice. They argued that there are other rice fields in the Region that different from Jahally and Parcharr.

The rice growers said what is lacking is the provision of modern machinery for the ploughing of their rice fields together with adequate fertilizer which are affordable and come on time.
They called on the government and non-governmental organizations to help them with tractors, threshing machines and fertilizer to enable them to produce enough rice for the consumption needs of CRR and beyond. This, they said, would help reduce the import bill on rice.
Talking to this reporter on the issue at his residence in Fulladu, Amadou Baldeh said they have enough rice fields in the Central River Region that can ensure self-sufficiency in rice production. He reiterated the lack of fertilizer, tractors and threshing machines as the major constrain affecting them.
Mr Baldeh added that due to the inadequacy of tractors in their area, the timely ploughing of their fields is not possible and that this leads to the maturing of their nursery fields to before transplantation. This, he said, does have negative impact on their yields.
He also joined the others in calling on Government to help them address these technical obstacles to the realization self-sufficiency in rice production.
On her part, Neneh Sowe, another farmer, said even though there are some tractors in their area, they are unavailable and unaffordable to the vast majority of the rice growers in the area due to inadequacy and high cost of hiring them. She thus appealed for assistance to save them from the drudgery and use of crude tools to plough vast fields. The rest of the rice growers who spoke to this reporter have expressed similar views adding that provision of affordable fertilizer and machinery is what can help lead them out of poverty.