BY SAHR IBRAHIM KOMBA
232NEWS, FREETOWN
In a bid to produce more beverages in the country, Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) has called on Sierra Leoneans especially farmers to embark on sorghum farming in order to avoid shortages.
Speaking during a Press Conference at SLBL Supply Chain Academy, Wellington Industrial Estate in Freetown, on Thursday 20th July, SLBL Cooperate Affairs Manager Foday Daboh urged farmers to produce sorghum, adding that the industry is in need of locally produced sorghum to produce beer in Sierra Leone.
He said that according to the 2021 Finance Act if the industry uses 60% of locally produced sorghum, they will pay 10% to the government and 20% if they use 60% of internally produced sorghum.
He urged farmers to produce sorghum noting that the industry has not been getting the required sorghum needed to produce quality beer in Sierra Leone. “We cannot use rice or maize to produce beer because the country is in dire need of them,’’ he said.
Daboh furthered that the industry has made significant progress in providing farmers with seedlings, packaging materials, cash advance, free transportation of the produce, and motorbikes among other things to sorghum farmers.
He reiterated that sorghum will help to promote local content policy in the country adding that it will help SLBL to produce quality in the country. “This will help to empower farmers and further promote local content policy in Sierra Leone’’ he said.
“After providing the farmers with the necessary materials to produce sorghum, SLBL will also help the farmers with agronomists to teach them how to produce and store quality sorghum fit for the market. We would like to empower local farmers to produce quality sorghum on large scale because it is cost effective,” he noted.
SLBL Communication Manager Unisa Conteh disclosed that they started with 15 to 20 sorghum farmers and the number is over twenty thousand farmers but they cannot still reach the demand of SLBL.
He pointed out that they cannot stop the importation of sorghum at the moment because they are in dire need of sorghum in order to continue the production on beer.
