Sept-29-09
    

On assignment: Rice Production - Kambia Farmer named after rice - Marie ‘Nerica’

Marie (Nerica) Kamara

Madam Marie Kamara has become a household name in the Kambia District due to her successful cultivation of the Nerica variety which other farmers have described as “very hard to deal with.” Starting in 2004 with four bushels madam Kamara can now boast of a five acre farm which has thus earned her the coveted name of “Marie Nerica”. Nerica is the new strain of rice developed by award winning Sierra Leonean born Professor Monty Jones.

According to Madam Kamara the Nerica strain of rice was given to her by the Agriculture Ministry who were testing the suitability of the rice. She disclosed that it was not too productive in the first year (2004) since it was cultivated during the dry season. The rice harvested that year “was distributed in three places: Massama, Mogotala and Kanti, each receiving half a bushel, while she kept the rest. In 2005, Marie explained “I cultivated one and half a bushels, (and) harvested 35 bushels.” In 2006 she said “I harvested 45 bushels.” By 2008, she was able to harvest over 70 bushels. This year she said she is expecting higher yield in harvest because she worked very hard.

5 acres farm

Madam Marie Kamara has become a household name in the Kambia District due to her successful cultivation of the Nerica variety which other farmers have described as “very hard to deal with.” Starting in 2004 with four bushels madam Kamara can now boast of a five acre farm which has thus earned her the coveted name of “Marie Nerica”.
Nerica is the new strain of rice developed by award winning Sierra Leonean born Professor Monty Jones.

According to Madam Kamara the Nerica strain of rice was given to her by the Agriculture Ministry who were testing the suitability of the rice.
She disclosed that it was not too productive in the first year (2004) since it was cultivated during the dry season.
The rice harvested that year “was distributed in three places: Massama, Mogotala and Kanti, each receiving half a bushel, while she kept the rest.
In 2005, Marie explained “I cultivated one and half a bushels, (and) harvested 35 bushels.” In 2006 she said “I harvested 45 bushels.” By 2008, she was able to harvest over 70 bushels. This year she said she is expecting higher yield in harvest because she worked very hard.
The enterprising Madam Kamara revealed that she was now engaged in supplying other farmers as a form of campaign for the Nerica rice. Also she disclosed “after I have supplied the balance is then sold to the government (for their seed bank) and the money I get is used to pay the other farmers who are working on my farm.”
Questioned about the use of fertilizers Marie Nerica Kamara said “During the first week of cultivation I do apply 15/15 and when the rice becomes pregnant I then apply urea. I don’t use cow dung because the area where I farm there are no cows there.”

However Madam Kamara complained that government input has been either low or untimely. She explained, “I was given a tractor for just one year after pressuring the ministry. By the time they came with the tractor, I had already hired people to plough, since I was of the opinion that the tractor was not forthcoming and the rain had already started coming.”
She added that she “was promised a tractor and when the tractors came to the district she was not given one.” She explained some “few people were selected and given the tractors.”
On the issue of pests, Marie ‘Nerica’ said that rats and other animals do eat the rice and that she had to pay people to help drive the pests away.

Questioned about allegations of smuggling of rice to Guinea she said that she is not engaged in smuggling and that she supplies other farmers and only sells to government.
She called for government assistance claiming that the only help she has received from the government is fertilizer and sometimes cutlasses and hoes. 
Marie Nerica said government should help her with a “tractor and store where I will keep the rice after harvest. I don’t have a thrasher as the farmers as Nerica is difficult to thrash” Post harvest loss is another of the problems she further highlighted stating that she does not have a store to keep the rice after harvest.
The Mother of 10 whose husband is a court clerk disclosed that she has built a house with proceeds from the rice she has been planting.