The Seeds Multiplication Farms Project

May PEACE Prevail in Sierra Leone!
May PEACE Prevail on Earth!

Presenting a Case for the Rural People of Gbonkolenken Chiefdom's Seed Multiplication Farms Project for Funding.

Gbonkolenken is approximately 149 miles from Freetown. A chiefdom brutally devastated by rebel activities. Divided into nine (9) sections of Petifu Mayawa, Yele Manorwa, Mayepoh, Petifu Mayepoh, Upper Masakong, Lower Masakong Upper Poli, Lower Poli and Yeaben; constituting 227 villages with a population of over 200, 000 inhabitants, the inhabitants in this chiefdom have a genuine commitment towards rehabilitating and reconstructing their communities.

We fielded a Needs Assessment Mission on December 11-17, 2001, covering all nine sections of the chiefdom, and we found out these rural inhabitants have nothing, yet they are the foundation of their societies -- the hopeful, never-giving-up hardest workers. We found out these rural inhabitants - deeply devoted to their communities are prepared to work with us to succeed with the Communal Farming System (CFS) in agricultural sector development program we have taken to them. Let me explain how the CFS program works.

The CFS agricultural development strategy was carefully designed to address the problem of farmers access to farm inputs. The CFS approach is a joint venture strategy promoted by CADS among its member farming associations. The system is offering full time cooperation with farming associations. The rationale for the strategy is the center's responsibility of providing its farming associations with all the tangibles they need to improve the productivity of, and returns to farm labor. These tangibles refer to farm inputs - seeds, tools and fertilizers and food-for-work which have a money value to access which most farmers could not afford.

CADS, through the CFS agricultural development strategy demands village communities to form Communal Farming Associations comprising of individual small farmers who join these associations, headed by the village chiefs and/or elders. The rationale for this is to make it easy for the center to deal with small farmers in the various village communities through the farming associations.

The center's CFS strategy therefore provides for the center to work directly with the farming associations, entering into a CFS joint venture agreement which dictates the center providing farm inputs to small farmers in the various target rural communities, through the farm associations, in return for the small farmers who are members of the communal farming associations to provide the land and labor. The CFS strategy itself encourages farmers independence. The center works through farming associations headed by the community chiefs and/elders, and this provides the independence for village communities to work among themselves which makes the system very effective. The Chairman or chairlady of the various farming associations in the target rural communities receive the farm inputs provided by CADS as dictated by the CFS joint venture and they distribute these inputs to their small farmer subjects only when they have verified their small farmer subjects have secured farm lands and have the labor to carry out the work. As such the small farmers are subcontracted by their farming associations. In general, the majority of small holders operate under customary land tenure laws in these rural communities which, among other things, permits and recognizes the rights of individual families to access community lands. These rights, covering allocation and usage are granted through tribal custodians of chiefs and elders, and remain valid so long as the land is tended.

The bottom line of the CFS agricultural development strategy is the sharing of harvested produce to ensure the economic development of participating farmers, and the continuity and sustainability of the program a strategy clearly explained in the Agricultural Sector Development Project Document attached/enclosed. This program is our unique approach towards re-establishing rural farm communities. It is a program that works. We have proven the workability of the program at Koya and York Rural Districts where we cultivated stretches of land with rural families in these districts in 1997/98 and it worked for us and our rural partners. And now, we want to expand the benefits of this program to the abandoned rural people of Gbonkolenken. But for the successful implementation of the Communal Farming Systems justified above, the center recognizes the need to address the scarcity of planting seeds in the Chiefdom.

The Seed Multiplication Farms Project is therefore an emergency farming strategy to cultivate 275 acres of swamp rice, and 230 acres of upland rice, and 225 acres of short duration potatoes, 265 short duration cassava and 365 corn in the nine sections of the Gbonkolenken Chiefdom to benefit 29 farm associations in the Chiefdom during subsequent crop seasons.

Generally, the Seed Multiplication Farms project is aimed at multiplying seed rice, cassava cuttings, potato vines and seed corn to meet the needs of the farming communities of Petifu Mayawa, Yele Manorwa, Mayepoh, Petifu Mayepoh, Upper Masakong, Lower Masakong Upper Poli, Lower Poli and Yeaben during subsequent crop seasons. It also aims at cultivating short duration tubers and corn to serve as supplements on food-for-work for the various farming association affiliates. We will be doing a great job with these people.

With our CFS approach, we hope to break a link on the poverty chain and show faith in the power of these rural people's spirit. It is an inspiring approach. We therefore ask you to believe enough in us and our rural partners to give especially our rural partners a chance. Throughout the world's poorest countries, one billion men, women and children are suffering. We must work harder to reach out to even more of these people who need us. And we will - with your help. By agreeing to fund our Seeds Multiplication Farms Project you will endow the most powerful resource of all -- the valiant spirit of men, women and children in the Gbonkolenken Chiefdom who persevere through poverty, famine and civil unrest. We have enclosed an attached project document that will tell you more about our unique development approach. You will find in this document that we are planting the seeds of change - and nurturing them with hope. But because the people of Gbonkolenken Chiefdom are so badly traumatized by the war which brought unprecedented devastation of their communities causing untold suffering to these people, we must press forward without delay. Please fund this project. We are genuinely helping these people.

Yes, CADS is a local organization, but CADS is no ordinary organization. We care. We persevere. We never give up. If therefore you share the belief that it is better to give motivated, hardworking men and women a hand-up - rather than a hand-out, then please join us in this important Seeds Multiplication Farms Project geared towards sustainable agricultural sector development in Sierra Leone with long term benefits for the rural people of Gbonkolenken and beyond.

We trust you will expedite the procedure of approving funds for this project as we are pressed for time to catch up with this crop season - i.e. 2003/04 planting season. Project support we are kindly asking for is $ 23,661.36 (Twenty Three Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty One Dollars, Thirty Six Cents).

And to accelerate also the process of transfer of funds upon your expeditious approval of this project, please wire transfer funds to our CADS Sierra Leone account in Freetown, Sierra Leone. These are the details for any wire transfer to our account:

In Account With: Union Trust Bank Ltd. - PMB 1237, Lightfoot Boston Street, Freetown -- Sierra Leone, West Africa. Tel: 232 - 22 - 226954 / 222792 / 223319 Fax: 232 - 22 - 226214
Account Type: Current
Account Number: 210 - 007704 - 01
Union Trust Bank -- Sierra Leone Ltd. Corresponding Bank in the United States Details are: Sent Code: 40-05-15N
Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. Limited (HSBC) -- New York, USA
140 Broadway -- B Level NEW YORK, NY 10005 - 1180 United States of America Tel: 1 - 212 - 525 - 5000

And with hope, we would like to invite you to visit the web pages of the Center for Alternative Development Strategies (CADS) Sierra Leone and its Global Network at http://www.geocities.com/cadsglobalnet. As you browse through these pages, We hope that you will find evidence of our work and of warm and compassionate dedication, an inspiring development experience and relevant, life-changing business and development opportunities. And you will be able to find information about our Annual Reports for the years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001from our web pages as well.

We are certainly proud of the way we manage the measly resources available to us. This proves that contributions to CADS Sierra Leone aren't lost inside some large bureaucracy. Instead we are genuinely concerned about results. We are simply ordinary, non-sophisticated Sierra Leoneans who find fulfillment in serving and identifying with the rural poor.

Also, copy of the official registration and financial information of CADS Sierra Leone may be obtained from the Ministry of Development and Economic Planning, NGO Desk Office, Rm. W602, 6th Floor - Youyi Building, Freetown - Sierra Leone, Tel: (232 22) 240548.

And, if you do ask us what risks are there in this project? What might stop it being successful? Reassuringly, I will confidently tell you that the risks are minimal. Our rural partners who are prepared to work with us are hardworking and eager to make life better for themselves and their communities. That, though most times constrained by the lack of vital resources CADS with all its rural partners have never given up, very hopeful that pretty soon, especially with support from institutions like yours we will together succeed to overcome chronic poverty with the self help solutions we have as a well thought of strategy.

Also, the center as host to Mr. Chad Simmons, an American volunteer from Wisconsin, USA, who is visiting Sierra Leone for three months, will go a long way to helping CADS fulfill its effort to facilitate its sustainable rural development initiatives. Mr. Simmons is sharing with us his knowledge and expertise in community development, and is very supportive in motivating our rural partners. If you request to speak to Mr. Simmons, please call our CADS headquarter in Freetown, Sierra Leone (232 22) 224839.

Please agree with us that the way to help people in poor rural areas of the developing world is to provide them with opportunities to substantially and permanently improve their lives. We trust you will act positively. You can also reach us via email at CadsIntlPrograms@aol.com. Thank you.

To request to see a complete project document, please: Send Us an Email at: CadsIntlPrograms@aol.com or Call Our CADS Global Network -- USA Office at:
1-720-351-5520 or Our CADS Sierra Leone Headquarters at (232 22) 224839.