The signing of this MOU was presided over by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security- Dr. Demba Sabally and senior officials from the ministry.
At the event, Minister Sabally underscored the importance of the project, which he said, is aligned to the attainment of the objectives of the National Development Plan.
This, he said, is evidenced in the recent signing of a contract agreement between ROOTs and a Chinese Company to develop the irrigation infrastructure for rice production sites.
Dr. Sabally also recalled that in 2023 and in March last year, he launched the first and second rounds of the input support program.
"In 2023 we started with 27 sities, and then added another 30 sities in 2024. Today we are witnessing the signing ceremony for the third expansion of the program, to involve an additional 35 new communities across the country.The expansion of this 35 new communities will now bring the total to 92 communities across the country."
The Roots input support program for rice, he added, is designed to asist rice farmer organizations not only to improve their yields and productivity, but also to accumulate the liquidity neccessary to independently underwrite their own production activities in the medium term.
"This means in the first year the Roots project will offset 80% of the total cost, 50% in the second year and 20% in the three."
TheAgric Minister noted that this year, the total input support for rice production to be provided by the ROOTs Project will cover a total of 4,856 hectares across the country, a 56 percent increase compared to last year.
This, he said, is due to a combination of factors , in particular citing the expansion of the areas already in he programme, the addition of new intervention sites and bringing back into cultivation previosly abandoned areas.
According to him, the current dry season the input support for rice production provided by the Roots project has increased from 1,040 hectaress last year to 1,351 hectares, a 34% increase.
Minister Sabally also revealed that the project rainy season input suport programme will provide 109.25 tons of certified seeds under the guidance of the National Seed Secretariat , 1,051 tons of fertilize (Urea and NPK),10,515 litres of pre-and post-emergence herbicides, and ploughing services covering more than 3505 hectares.
