By Gert. E. Prosman | Project leader
COVID-19 update Sierra Leone
Worldwide a new rise in COVID-19 cases is occurring. After a peek in last December and january in Sierra Leone the numbers of registered cases have been very low: although the number of registered cases is relatively low with currently 7693 cases and 125 deaths registered, it still influences daily life. And a full vaccination has reached the level of 21% of the 7.5 million inhabitants by June 5th, which is only a third of 61,4% fully vaccination level a worldwide.
Update from the fields mid June 2022
During the recent months Farmers have completed manual clearing and stumping on the twelve acres of farms. There was a delay in sowing seeds due to the late coming of rains in this region. In the past two weeks sowing/plating of rice seeds is ongoing by all our farmers in the twelve acres. An example of seeds vialbility test conducted in farmers site can be seen in attached photos.
In the first week of June three days training sessions were held with farmers on the topics:
The training was highly appreciated by farmers as new ideas were learnt and are being implemented in on going project activities.
Challenges during the month of June.
1) The Global fuel crisis have significantly affected the Sierra Leone economy. The two fuel increases in the past four months have plunged out economy to a near 100% increase in the cost of all commodities and services. The consequence for us is, that, the already provided project budget will not be enough to cover the higher costs of traveling and other costs for the coming months.
This means that we will need to provide an extension to the project budget.
2) Some of our previous Project beneficiaries have lost all their livelihoods when we stopped supporting them last year!
There is heavy pressure on our program manager by ten former SFG beneficiaries vulnerable church members whom we could not support in this mixed cropping farming project. Presently they are now requesting that we consider them for a Swamp Rice Production Project when the second cropping season for 2022 commences in September this year.
Unfortunately we currently do not have sufficient funds to meet this cry for help.
Summer campaign
In view of the project situation and the request for an extra cropping project, we are now starting the summer funding campaign,
to reach a target of EUR / USD 2500,=
Can we count on your contribution?
News from the Board
We are happy to introduce to you the new chair of the board: mr. Gert E. Prosman. Gert will take over the role of Ben Bolland as of July 1st.
Retrospect: Ben Bolland
As founder of SFG, Ben started this project in 2016, together with Kapri Turay. The first years of the initial Maize cropping project were very successful, going from 0 to 150 farmer-families in three years. Drought, pests and COVID-19 necessitated a change to a mixed cropping farming model. We honor Ben for adopting the initial request for help and we are very grateful for the extension of the foundation through all the difficulties in the past years.
Introduction of Gert Prosman
I live in Tilburg, a city in the south of The Netherlands, together with my wife and our two young daughters; Sara (3) and Roos (1). My profession is ruminant health care. I work as veterinary surgeon in Oisterwijks surroundings. Prevention of (metabolic) diseases and composing healthy rations are my main areas of focus.
In the SFG-projects I will look for combined strategies:
1) Low-risk cropping models as year-round food security for the farmers and their families.
2) Searching for interesting crops for trading to generate new money flows.
Of course, I also will pay attention to investigate the added value of introducing more domestic farm animals/ruminants in this ecosystem.
With the help of God, I hope to contribute to a sustainable improvement of the prosperity and happiness of Rochen Malal people.
NEXT STEPS?: Please help us to make the next step forward!
We are still a small team, committed to Seeds for Growth to improve livelihoods in rural Sierra Leone.
Therefore we invite YOU to volunteer for the team.
And…WHY NOT join together? Please bring your friend or network partner(s) along!
Only together we can improve the livelihoods of farmers in rural Sierra Leone?
We ‘d love to have an online chat with you about the options.
Just drop an email to: gert.e.prosman@gmail.com
or kaprituray@yahoo.com
Below a Photo of the new board member and a sample germination and seeds viability test sites on farmers fields.
By Ben Bolland | Project leader
By Ben Bolland | Project leader
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