Yankuba Kai-Samba
Writing from Chelmsford UK
A YEAR LEFT TO ELECTIONS IN SIERRA LEONE, PRESIDENT BIO HAS SIGNED 1 BILLION DOLLARS DEAL WITH VIETNAM TO SUPPLY RICE TO SIERRA LEONE TO HELP HIM WIN HIS SECOND TERM.
What has gone wrong with the paopa government promised to make Sierra leone food self sufficient? What has gone wrong with the much talked about biggest rice farming in Northern Sierra Leone.
And what has gone wrong with paopa ministers taken lands used by traditional farmers to do rice farming and sold it to the people?
The moment it was announced that president Bio was in Vietnam for a bilateral relations, I published a statement that he was there to beg for rice.
Since rice is the major campaign commodity in Sierra Leone, this is a smart move from the perspective of the paopas in their desperate bid to retain power.
But spending a billion dollars to import rice from Vietnam is the capitulation of the government’s policy on self reliance.
President Bio has gone back on his words that Sierra Leone would feed itself and become an exporter of rice.That is now in abeyance.
The Bio administration is already on record as the government which has taken the largest amount of debt in 4 years than under any previous government including the 10 years of APC president Koroma.
This deal will deepen Sierra Leone dependency , and most excruciating is that the government has committed one billion dollars to export rice into Sierra Leone from Vietnam. This is a substantial revenue comming into the Vietnamese economy.
The aim of president Bio is to release massive bags of rice into the market when the shipments from Vietnam began to arrive with the hope that people will forget the four years of hardship, unprecedented corruption scandals and economic failures of his government.
The simple economic rationale underpining the contract with Vietnam to import rice to Sierra Leone is that when there are scarcity of supply, prices will go up. And when there are abundance of supply, prices will go down.
We might see the price for a bag of rice gradually going down from 350,000 a bag to 200,000 or even less during this election circle.
But Whoever become president after the 2023 election, will surely have an unenviable tasks and multiple serious economic challenges to face with not least to repay the highest debts accumulated under the Bio administration. The new president will also need to repay the one billion dollar rice contract deal Bio has signed with the Vietnamese.
So what this will lead to is that the incoming government will have to allow the market to determine the prices of rice in line with inflation, whence it would become higher again and unaffordable.
Signing a billion dollar rice importation in an election year is short term opportunism that will cause significant long term damage to the country’s economy and ability to feed itself.
Please read below the deal president Bio has entered into.
It’s like when you plucked all the feathers from a chicken, sustaining excruciating pain causing her to bleed.
But once you throw rice on your path, that chicken will follow you, inspite of the pain you had inflicted on her, as it picks up the rice behind you.
Why aren’t we developing our rice industry to export to other countries ?
Angimex Signs Billion-Dollar Rice Export Contract with the Republic of Sierra Leone
Mar 18, 2022, 02:33 ET
- President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio paid a visit to the rice factory of An Giang Import – Export Joint Stock Company (Angimex)
- The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding with Sierra Leone is the premise for An Giang Import-Export Joint Stock Company (Angimex) to firmly maintain its leading position in ensuring transcontinental food security.
LONG XUYEN, Vietnam, March 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ –An Giang Import – Export Joint Stock Company (Angimex – HOSE: AGM), a member of Louis Holdings Group – the leading enterprise in the field of agricultural food production & trading business in Vietnam was honored to welcome the President and the high-level delegation of the Republic of Sierra Leone to visit the rice factory in Long Xuyen City, An Giang province. Here, the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a 3-year rice export contract to the West African country was also solemnly held under the witness of the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio. This visit with the largest purchase so far in 2022 will be the premise for Angimex to firmly maintain its leading position in ensuring transcontinental food security.
The MOU signing ceremony has the honorary attendance of Mr. Do Thanh Nhan – Chairman & other senior representatives of Angimex and President Julius Maada Bio & the high-level delegation of the Republic of Sierra Leone. According to the content of the MOU between the two parties, Angimex will export 3 million tons of rice to Sierra Leone under a three-year rice export contract. This kind of international rice export contract exerts a substantial influence, helping Angimex access new markets and customer groups in the future.
The continuous application of new agricultural technology in farming enables Vietnam’s leading rice enterprise to ensure rice grain quality and meet strict standards of big countries. With the “endorsement” of the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Angimex has high expectations for this 3-year contract as the foundation for upcoming larger purchases from West Africa since Angimex has already proved its scale and potential with neighboring countries of the Republic of Sierra Leone. This boasts a comprehensive cooperation not only between Angimex and the presidential delegation of the Republic of Sierra Leone, but also between Vietnam and Sierra Leone.
Mr. Do Thanh Nhan, Chairman of An Giang Import-Export Joint Stock Company shared: “Thanks to the strict quality control system, Angimex has been and will be able to provide the highest quality rice products to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of the market. The enterprise’s professional services will surely satisfy the diverse needs of customers. With the goodwill for the sake of mutual development, Angimex strongly believes in the good and long-term success in the cooperation between Angimex and our partners in the upcoming time. We look forward to accompanying our partners to create the best and sustainable values”.
Within the scope of cooperation, Angimex will transfer the sample rice field to the enterprises of the Republic of Sierra Leone. The sample rice field is Angimex’s first successful factor to ensure high-quality rice input. The expansion of the large sample rice field is one of the solutions to increase the value of rice for export, according to the policy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
When farming on the large sample rice field, farmers will simultaneously sow each high-yield and high-quality rice variety in the same field. Therefore, this combination of high-quality rice production and rice field expansion brings practical benefits to farmers, including changing production mindset and improving economic efficiency. Aiming at improving the quality of rice seeds in the future, the agricultural services of Angimex give an emphasis on providing farmers with in-depth knowledge and cost-saving methods during varietal selection, cultivation, and harvest. Also, Angimex’s experts with rich experience in the field of agriculture will train farmers to master cultivation techniques and answer the farmers’ questions during the farming process.
Regarding the business plan in 2022, Angimex sets a targeted revenue of over VND 8,004 billion; pre-tax profit of VND 70 billion – a more than double and 22 percent increase respectively against the previous year. In the long-term development strategy, Angimex aims to become the biggest rice exporter and also the market leader in the domestic rice market. With the orientation of “restoring the status of An Giang rice king”, Louis Holdings has been putting all its efforts into Angimex in the present and expecting to reap the results in the future.
About Angimex
An Giang Import – Export JSC company (Angimex) – a member of Louis Holdings is one of the leading enterprises in Vietnam in the field of food, agricultural materials, trade and service with the main product in rice. Angimex focuses on developing core sectors including agriculture, high-tech agriculture, and value-added agricultural products in order to develop An Giang homeland. Angimex was the first enterprise to be licensed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade under Decree 109 of the Government on consideration of eligibility for rice export business in 2011. During more than 45 years of operation and development, Angimex’s rice products have been exported to over 50 countries around the world. In 2020, Angimex was certified as a reputable Exporter by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 2021, Angimex entered the top 3 largest rice exporters in Vietnam. In 2022, Angimex aims to achieve the maximum capacity of processing plants with total output up to 1,000,000 tons/year.
To meet the accelerating demand, Angimex has been constantly expanding its distribution network both domestically and internationally, managing and operating large-scale rice processing plants in the Mekong Delta. At the same time, the enterprise has always improved product quality, established a quality management system in line with international food standards. Angimex rice products have been well qualified with international certifications such as: HALAL, ISO 22000:2005, HACCP, Food Safety and meet export standards of European countries, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Africa, etc.
