Gbarpolu County Senator Armah Z. Jallah has empowered local farmers in the county with rice mills to process their harvests in an easy and modern way.
At present, farmers use mortars and pestles carved out of wood to pound the rice grain and remove the chaff to get clean rice.
Speaking to the Liberia News Agency in Gbarpolu County over the weekend, Senator Jallah said the provision of 25 rice milling machines for local farmers in Gbarpolu is intended to encourage them to cultivate more and larger farms.
Senator Jallah observed that cultivating more farms will help boost the county’s economy and enable citizens to feed themselves.
The Senator said an assessment he conducted recently shows that residents of the county have made more farms this year than in past years.
Senator Jallah also observed that at the beginning of the farming season he distributed seed rice to local farmers and provided farmlands for them free of charge.
He pointed out that owing to post-harvest losses of the rice because of poor processing capacity many farmers limit the size of their farms, prompting his decision to donate the rice mills.
Senator Jallah said the mills would be distributed among the towns and villages for their collective use.
The Gbarpolu County lawmaker at the same time disclosed to LINA that he has cultivated over 150 acres of farmland in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County.
“I am involved in the cultivation of palm, banana, cassava and eddoes on my farm,” Senator Jallah added.
He used the medium to call on his colleague lawmakers to invest in agriculture as a fallback position after they retire from politics.
Meanwhile, the local farmers have commended Senator Jallah for the donation and promised to do more in the agriculture sector of the country.
“Agriculture is the gateway to any successful and developed country,” some of the farmers noted.
