By: Precious Miracle Kargbo Snr
The European Union (EU) and the Federal Republic of Germany have officially launched a €15.5 million Cassava Value Chain Project in Freetown, marking the beginning of a four-year initiative aimed at modernizing cassava production, strengthening food security, reducing dependence on food imports, and creating employment opportunities for women and young people.
The project was launched at the Country Lodge Hotel in Freetown and will run from January 2026 to December 2029. It forms part of the broader €35 million Sustainable Food and Agriculture Value Chains Development Programme, funded by the European Union to strengthen Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector.
The programme focuses on three key value chains of cassava, palm oil, and infant food. While the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is implementing the palm oil component and the World Food Programme (WFP) is leading the infant food component, the cassava project will be implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) under its €25.5 million Youth Employment Promotion Framework.
The cassava intervention is financed through a €12 million contribution from the European Union and €3.5 million from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The investment comes at a critical time, as cassava remains one of Sierra Leone’s most important staple crops, consumed by more than 70 percent of households. However, the sector continues to face major challenges, including low productivity, high post-harvest losses, limited access to improved planting materials, inadequate processing facilities, and weak market linkages.
Project officials said the initiative is designed to address these structural constraints by improving productivity, strengthening value addition, and expanding market opportunities for farmers and agribusinesses.
Over the four-year implementation period, the project will establish 10 cassava cultivar multiplication centres to increase the availability of improved planting materials. It will also develop 50 hectares of demonstration farms where farmers will be trained in modern and climate-smart agricultural practices.
A total of 500 farmers will receive training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to improve yields, reduce post-harvest losses, and enhance the quality of cassava production.
To strengthen local economic participation, the project will provide institutional and business development support to 10 Farmer-Based Organizations (FBOs) and 40 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating along the cassava value chain. The initiative is expected to stimulate green employment opportunities, particularly for women and young people, who remain disproportionately affected by unemployment in rural communities.
Skills development will also form a key component of the project. Three Government Technical Institutes will be upgraded to introduce six specialised agricultural training programmes, equipping young people with practical and market-relevant skills required to support a modern and competitive cassava industry.
The upgraded institutions are expected to serve as regional centres of excellence for agricultural training, producing graduates capable of driving innovation, agribusiness development, and sustainable food production.
Project partners noted that the combined investments in improved planting materials, farmer training, enterprise development, and technical education are expected to make cassava farming more productive and profitable while strengthening national food security and rural livelihoods.
With implementation now underway, project activities will gradually be rolled out across targeted districts as stakeholders work toward achieving the programme’s objectives before its completion in December 2029.