MINISTRY OF FINANCE ADVERTORIAL
Background
Agriculture, including fisheries, forestry and livestock, is the key sector of the Sierra Leone economy, contributing more than half of GDP and employs two-thirds of the labour force. The sector is dominated by smallholder production of staple crops, which together accounts for three‐quarters of the volume of agricultural production. The country is also endowed with tree/cash crop plantations. To fully harness this huge agricultural potential to achieve food self-sufficiency, increased focus of reforms must be on the diversification of processed agricultural products; rural enterprise development; effective agricultural financing systems, especially for fishermen, small farmers, foresters, and agro-processors; research and development; technical cooperation and the dissemination of knowledge in agriculture; and effective agricultural marketing systems.
However, low productivity and market failures, weak policy and institutional coordination undermine the potential of the sector. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) only 15 percent of arable land is cultivated. Sierra Leone is a largely import-dependent country, importing about US$ 200 million worth of rice annually. This makes the country vulnerable to global shocks and heightens food insecurity.
As the world is bracing up with the current reality of food crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, global supply chain disruptions, and now the ongoing war in Ukraine – Russia, the knock-on effect is taking a huge toll on food insecurity, and poverty in the continent. The UN‘s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warns that the ongoing war will escalate global hunger and poverty.
1. Current Situation of food security in Sierra Leone
The 2021 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CSVA) in Sierra Leone gives an overview and a trend analysis of the food and nutrition security situation compared with previous analyses of 2010 and 2015. According to the CFSVA report in 2020, over 4.7 million people in Sierra Leone are food insecure; 3.3 million in rural areas compared to 1.4 people in urban areas.
Food access in the country was already constrained before the COVID-19 outbreak due to inflation and exchange rate depreciation for the past three years (African Development Bank,2020), in addition to a high dependency on food imports. Despite the fact that agriculture is at the core of Sierra Leone’s economy, domestic production by smallholder farmers, most of who are subsistence farmers, is insufficient to feed the country’s population of 8 million people.
The report further states that “While COVID-19 has had a serious impact on livelihoods and food security, it can only be partly attributed to the deterioration of food security over the past decade. Outdated agricultural methods, insufficient and expensive agricultural inputs contribute to low yields, whilst unacceptably high harvest and post-harvest losses, uneconomical access to markets and high food prices all contribute to food insecurity in Sierra Leone. Unaffordability of healthy foods also leads to malnutrition, forcing households to adopt unsustainable and negative coping strategies”.
Disruptions in production and supply chain resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict is already having a direct and immediate impact in much of Africa and around the world as the two countries are major producers and exporters of commodities such as oil, gas, cereals, oil grains and fertiliser. Commodity prices for fuel, wheat and fertilizer have soared. This comes on the back of increases in shipping costs and disruption in the global food supply chain due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which has kept global food prices higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The year-on-year consumer price inflation was 27.95 % in June 2022 compared to 10.20 at the same time in 2021 driven largely by the sharp increase in food and non-food prices. The National food inflation rose to 28.5 percent in June 2022 from 17.6 % in January 2021. The global food and fuel crisis is likely to worsen as the conflict drags on, which will put upward pressure on food prices. As a net-importer of food (food accounts for about 32% of merchandise import) and fuel, the crisis would worsen an already precarious food security situation in the country. The crisis will impact crucial Government programmes like schools feeding. The effect will be a worsening of malnutrition levels and associated illnesses among children. The level of undernourishment amongst children is precarious as 29.5% of Sierra Leone’s population of children under 5 are facing chronic malnutrition while 5.4% of children under 5 are facing acute malnutrition. The 2021 SMART Nutrition Survey indicates that only 33% of infants meet the requirements for minimum meal frequency and 4.9% for the minimum acceptable diet. Stunting stands at 26% in 2021.
To reverse this unsustainable trend, there is a need for increased investment in agriculture with the support of development partners and private sector participation to improve agricultural productivity and production as well as competitiveness.
INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE FOOD SECURITY IN SIERRA LEONE
To address the challenges of low agricultural productivity and high food insecurity in Sierra Leone, the Government has been putting together several policy frameworks to guide interventions in the agricultural sector. In particular, improving domestic rice production to reduce the food import bill while ensuring food security is a central component of the Economic Diversification Pillar of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2019-2023).
A. The National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan
The National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan (NSADP) provides the broad framework for operationalizing the objectives of Sierra Leone’s second generation Poverty Reduction Strategy, which prioritized agriculture as the engine for economic growth with a focus on production, processing and marketing crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries products. The NSADP (NSADP) provides the roadmap for moving agriculture, forestry and fisheries forward to both address the food security situation in the country, create jobs and provide incomes and generate revenues for national development. The NSADP is closely aligned to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) under the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU/NEPAD) activities to assist countries and development partners to share a common vision for development.
The NSADP examined the Agriculture sector opportunities and potentials as well as challenges in Sierra Leone and proposed strategies for agriculture development including district level strategies. The NSADP Agriculture Sector Investment programme, a key component of the NSADP seeks to increase the agriculture sector’s contribution to the national economy. This will be achieved through productivity increases through commercialization and private sector participation. The programme will facilitate and strengthen the productive capacities of small and medium scale farmers, provide an enabling environment to promote large scale farming and development of agribusiness, and facilitate access to markets and value addition for the selected commodities. The selected commodities are: rice, cassava, oil palm, cocoa, fisheries and non-timber forest products (firewood, charcoal, rattan, raffia). The Agriculture Investment programme comprised of four sub-components as follows
(i) Commodity Commercialization
The objective of this component is to increase the productivity of producers through the use of appropriate technologies and linking small to large producers to markets for the selected commodities in order to transform subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. To achieve this objective, the sub-programmed will address the specific needs of small as well as medium and large scale producers in order to enhance their organizations, productivity and market linkages. Particular attention will be paid to small and medium scale farmers to increase the use of well tested sustainable agricultural technologies, inputs and farm equipment to increase productivity and building new market access organizations. Recognizing the different research, extension and organizational needs of small-holders versus medium and large farmers, two components are proposed for specific group focus:
The Small-Holder Commercialization Scheme focused on small-holder value chain development of key economic areas specific in each district. Small-holder producers are linked to the national economic system through new commercial groups, out-growers, stockists and producer owned companies. The component include (i) village level Farmer Field and Life School (FFLS) training leading to Farmer Based Organization (FBO) establishment/strengthening. The FFLS also cover production technology, processing, marketing and key life skills (i.e. health, nutrition and functional literacy); (ii) creation of a system of Agriculture Business Centers (ABCs) owned by FBOs and backstopped by MAFFS extension and research service under a public-private franchise model; (iii) producer owned companies at district or chiefdom level for bulk processing of rice and cassava; and (iv) social protection activities such as food for work, food for training and school or home gardens. This component is facilitated through the decentralized local government’s extension services and in collaboration with FAO, WFP, UNIDO, UNDP and NGO development partners. Key commodity focus is based on district prioritization of commodities for food and cash income. To operationalize this component, Government with support from the World Bank developed and implemented the Small Holder Commercialization Project.
The Medium and Large Scale Producers Promotion Scheme focused on the development of private sector mechanization and processing businesses (e.g. tractorization, rice mills, oil processing, production of dairy products, ethanol and bio-fuel processing, etc.). Training for farm managers, mechanics, developing sound business plans, packaging, branding and marketing etc. will be provided to the medium to large scale farmers. Industrial fisheries will be considered elsewhere. The project will be implemented in collaboration with the MAFFS, FAO, UNDP, Chamber of Agriculture, Njala University, IPAM and private sector partners.
(ii) Agriculture Infrastructure Development
The objective of this component is to develop appropriate infrastructure of public goods in nature to support commodity commercialization. Infrastructures of most immediate need are: roads, irrigation facilities, markets, processing, packaging and storage facilities. These include the rehabilitation and upgrading of feeder roads of major agricultural importance; support to the development of irrigable areas for both small scale and large scale holders to enhance the double cultivation of rice, vegetables and other crops; rehabilitation and modernization of existing storage and processing facilities and equipment; develop local storage, processing and marketing facilities to improve stability of food supplies; rehabilitation and construction of research centers, MAFFS offices, staff quarters; and construction of fish harbors, processing and packaging facilities in selected areas.
(iii) Private Sector Promotion
The objective of this sub-programme is to provide a conducive environment and incentives for sustainable agribusiness and fisheries commodity commercialization and investment into agriculture and fisheries sector, including processing and export. This includes the review of laws, regulations and policies pertaining to land, taxation and import and export regulations and those that will enhance the formation of famer based organizations and support the delivery of services.
(iv) Sector Coordination and Management
The objective of this component is to develop appropriate capacities for the management of the programme as well as governance structures. In addition, the Multi-Partners Commodity Groups under the Presidential Task Force on Agriculture consist of national and international expertise on specific commodities including rice, industrial cassava, fisheries, livestock, export and new potential crops and sustainable timber forest products. These Groups will comprise of members from Government, Non-Government, Private Sector, Farmers, University/Academia and Development Partners.
B. The National Agriculture Transformation (NAT) Programme
The 2019–2025 Medium-Term National Agricultural Transformation Plan (NAT), which includes the 2019–2023 short-term National Agricultural Transformation Plan (NATP), details how to achieve the agricultural objectives of the Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP, 2019-2023). It has four priorities: (i) rice self-sufficiency; (ii) livestock development; (iii) crop diversification; and (iv) sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation. There are three enabling policies: (i) improving policy coherence, joint and strategic planning, coordination, research, and resource mobilization; (ii) making youth and women catalysts for agribusiness development, and (iii) investing in transformative technology such as mechanization, irrigation, water management and remote sensing.
(i) Towards Rice Self-sufficiency
Rice is Sierra Leone’s staple food. Despite the potential for increased production of rice, total output has not been able to meet the domestic demand. The Country spends an average of US$200 million annually to import rice. This situation is untenable and Government is developing strategies to increase domestic rice production to improve food security. The target is to put 300,000 hectres of land under cultivation in order to produce 900,000 metric tons of rice annually. This is expected to reduce the import bill for rice by 50 percent in the medium-term.
A key component of the plan is to attract public-private Investment with a focus on irrigation and mechanization for rice production, processing and marketing. This includes investments in the irrigation of over 100,000 ha of low land areas, setting up of Machine Rings and operating them through a Public Private Partnership arrangement, improving farm to market access, provision of energy and facilitating medium- and large-scale producers and smallholder farmers to come on board. Medium- and large-scale producers will work with smallholder farmers in a mutually beneficial out-grower arrangement to fast-track development of the rice sub-sector. Modern inputs methodology and technologies will be central to the implementation process.
(ii) Livestock Development
As in the case of rice, domestic production of animal and poultry products such as meat, chicken and eggs is grossly insufficient to meet domestic demand. Challenges facing the subsector include lack of good quality breeding stock; poor and inadequate animal production stations; lack of animal feed factories; low quality roughages; scarcity or high-cost of concentrates and crop residues; dearth of veterinary services and poor animal health; poor husbandry practices; disorganization of the sub-sector; lack of low interest credit to farmers; and a prevailing shortage of livestock technicians and experts.
Against this background, the Government of Sierra Leone seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security towards the development and modernization of the livestock industry in the country. The target is to restock the population of ruminants and cattle to 5000 heads and 2000 heads, respectively. The programme also targets to produce 750 million of eggs per year. The overarching objective is to transform the under-performing livestock sub-sector into an income-generating subsector – through state-led initiatives and PPPs focused on intensification and improvement in animal production/products. Interventions under this priority area will focus on providing opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youth and address the high levels of malnutrition among the population. Specific livestock value chains that have been prioritized for development are cattle, small ruminants and poultry.
(iii) Crop Diversification
This programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to intensify crop development nationwide aimed at significantly increasing food production and job creation for our growing population. In addition to private sector led initiatives, which are expected to drive the agricultural sector, MAF will contribute to enhance agricultural production and productivity through supporting new improved plantations for cash crops, state led initiatives, public-private partnerships and attendant out-grower/small holder commercialization schemes. This intervention area also seeks to provide opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths as well as address the high levels of malnutrition among rural population in Sierra Leone
iv) Sustainable Forestry Management and Biodiversity Conservation
Sierra Leone’s fifteen forest reserves are under threat from poaching, urbanization and other human activities. Many species are endangered. Increased forest cover will be achieved by investing in innovative ideas that promote the establishment of community and commercial forestry.
The key objectives of this programme are to develop forests (Commercial, Community and Protected Forests); strengthen policies, institutional frameworks for integrated protection and management of the nation’s biodiversity through cooperation with forest edge communities and other sectors. Cross-cutting issues such as livelihoods, stock- taking of the nation’s forests and watershed management, among others, will be fully considered.
C. The Policy Shift in the Agriculture Sector
Consistent with the NSADP and the NAT, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Sierra Leone embarked on a major policy shift in 2021 aimed at promoting private sector participation in the delivery of agricultural inputs. Government has withdrawn from the direct procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs to ensure transparency and efficiency in the in the process with a view to boosting domestic rice production, creating jobs and ensuring food security. Under the Policy Shift, agro-dealers are encouraged to import agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, seeds for sale to farmers as well as manage agricultural machinery and equipment.
To operationalize the policy shift, Government established an electronic voucher (e-voucher system) domiciled in one of the commercial banks through which Government provides inputs to small holder farmers engaged in the production of rice. Under this system, farmers are allocated vouchers, which they will submit to agro dealers for the supply of agriculture inputs. The eligible farmers have been registered in a digital database and will receive support for at least three consecutive planting seasons. The agro dealers will in turn encash the vouchers at the commercial bank. The e-voucher system is expected to address issues of poor targeting of farmers as well as over-pricing, poor quality and late delivery of inputs to farmers.
The Bank of Sierra Leone also established a Special Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) to enable agro dealers to imports agricultural inputs into the country for sale to farmers through the e-voucher system. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is registering existing and new agro-dealers. The aim is to have at least two agro-dealers per chiefdom.
Government has also established Machine Rings at the district level using a public-private partnership approach where Government leases out agricultural machinery to private sector operatives who will provide land preparation services to farmers. Government procured and leases out 250 tractors to machine ring operators in all the districts. The idea is to organize rice producing farmers in clusters to generate scale for machine use and reduce cost to individual farmers. Machine service can also be requested using the e-voucher system, which can be managed through registered agro-dealers. The goal is to target the main rice bowls, including Inland valley swamps, Riverine grassland, Mangrove Swamps and other lowlands with potential for multiple cropping cycles in a year. Farmers will also be provided with electronic extension services. These services combined with the e-voucher delivery system comprise the Farmer Service Cenres.
In the processing segment of the rice value chain, the Machine Rings are also providing rice milling services to farmers. The goal is to trigger a supply pull, where farmers are mobilized around large-scale rice milling services. The focus is to establish rice value chain farmer groups, and rice aggregators that are linked around commercial scale rice milling stations. Supporting rice aggregators for both local and export markets will decrease transaction costs for smallholder farmers; as the cost of processing, packaging, transportation, storage and marketing are sometimes borne by these off-takers. This approach potentially solves the challenge of dealing with an overwhelming smallholder production base.
To ensure the right quality and suitability of the seeds and fertilizer procured and distributed by the private agro-dealers, the Government of Sierra Leone established the Seed Certification Agency and Fertilizer Regulatory Agency.
Central to the government’s strategy was to strengthen agricultural productivity, the new policy shift would bring together the private sector with development partners to deliver innovative agriculture practice, technique, approach, and investment support aimed at generating business development, identifying local market champions, and improving the delivery of goods and services for potentially millions of people across the country.
As part of the government’s broad strategy on agriculture, public-private partnerships will provide market intelligence, identify and work with promising local businesses to prepare them for investment, and build relationships crucial to job creation and development success.
However, supporting private-led initiatives in agriculture that directly affect food security is vital now more than ever in the wake of COVID-19 and other pressing economic and financial challenges.
D. Short-term Agriculture Crisis Response Programmes
As part of overall efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people, the Government of Sierra Leone developed a short-term Quick Action Economic Response Programme (QAERP). The key objectives of the QAERP are as follows:
• Building and maintaining an adequate stock level of essential commodities at stable prices;
• Providing support to hardest-hit businesses to enable them to continue operations and avert lay-offs of employees;
• Expanding social safety nets to vulnerable groups;
• Supporting labour-intensive public works; and
• Providing assistance for the local production and processing of staple food items
(i) Local Food Production COVID-19 Response Plan.
In line with objective five (5) of the QAERP, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, developed the Local Food Production COVID-19 Response Plan in 2020 to ensure availability of food crops during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted food supply chains locally and globally. The plan focused on large scale mechanical cultivation of rice and other food as well as livestock to boost local production through:
• Ploughing, harrowing and seed harrowing of several thousands of hectres of land in 10 districts;
• Supporting Farmer-Based Organisations in selected locations with 700 hundred metric tons of seed rice and 3500 tons of fertilizer;
• Provision of food for work with support from the World Food Programme; and
• Provision of pre-and post-harvest equipment and machinery
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security also provided maize seed and fertiliser to support the cultivation of maize for poultry feed as well as assorted vegetable seeds for food production
(ii) Quick Action Food Security Response Plan (QA-FSRP)
Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and associated sharp rise in the price of food and fuel products and implications for food security, the Government of Sierra Leone developed the Quick Action Food Security Response Plan (QA-FSRP), which outlines much needed interventions to support the government’s ability to respond to potential food security threats from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It focuses on the short-term measures, as well as lay the foundation for medium to long term investment to boost agriculture productivity. Specifically, the objectives of the plan are as follows:
Objective 1: Meet the immediate food security needs of the most vulnerable in the next three months
Strategic Actions
i. Provide unconditional cash transfers for the most vulnerable populations. For effective targeting, this can be allocated according to the WFP hunger map per chiefdom. Previous programmes by NaCSA can also be expanded.
ii. Provide cash for work to youth in rural areas to support local food production. The rising cost of production in Sierra Leone’s young manufacturing sector likely going to impact on the capacity of the few enterprises in Sierra Leone to hire local labour as they strive to manage their operational cost. A local employment programmed targeted at unlocking labour for the cultivation of Inland Valley Swamps for rice and vegetable farmers in communities inaccessible to tractors has the potential to unlock year-round rice production of rice in districts with a high concentration of IVS.
Objective 2: Prevent a deterioration of nutrition status of children
Strategic Actions
i. Expand the coverage of school feeding programmes.
ii. Institute school gardens alongside school feeding programmes.
iii. Secured and promote the use of fortified food among
under-fives.
Objective 3: Boost local production of a diversified basket of food this planting season
Strategic Actions
i. Use the policy shift interventions as a channel for boosting local food production during this planting season. The Government has registered up to 20,000 ha for rice cultivation, but budget constraints and price increases of fuel and fertiliser means they would only support 50% of this target. Supporting the government to cultivate all 20,000 ha will make a big difference for food security.
ii. Support GoSL to cultivate an additional 10,000 ha of Cassava. Cassava is another major food crop in Sierra Leone, but current Government support is limited to rice. Additional support could focus on cassava as a relatively cheap source of carbohydrates for families that are not capable of affording local or imported rice.
iii. Invest to reduce post-harvest loss for the 2022/2023 harvest cycle. This may include the rehabilitation of stores, purchase of millers and dryers that can be operated by private sector in the main rice bawls.
iv. Expand the size of the Agriculture Credit Facility to USD 15 million and extend eligibility to include mechanisation. The current facility only supports fertiliser and seeds for rice and vegetables. Support for mechanisation would help rapid expansion of land under cultivation and address post-harvest issues
Objective 4: Build a strategic reserve stock of food items to last multiple lean seasons
Strategic Actions
i. Provide foreign exchange to importers to secure essential commodities
ii. Provide a special loan facility at concessional interest rates to businesses to import essential food items
iii. Repair and transform idle MAF stores into food silos in strategic areas of the country. An assessment of MAF stores is completed in 5 districts. The plan can support a completion of the assessment and the needed repairs for all identified viable storage facilities.
iv. Secure trucks or truck services to support the distribution of food from strategic reserves.
Objective 5: Lay the foundation for boosting productivity in the sector.
Strategic Actions
i. Establishment of domestic fertilizer blending: Through a Presidential Fertilizer intervention, the Government of Sierra Leone can negotiate and lock-in prices for major fertilizer raw materials such as Urea, Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) with major African producers like Nigeria, Morocco, and Egypt under the auspices of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA). Financing to support private sector investment in fertilizer blending can be secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the Africa Fertilizer Finance Mechanism (AFFM).
ii. Developing Community-Based and Commercial Seed Systems: With the creation of SLESCA, farmers and other interested entrepreneurs can be licensed as Community-based (CBP) or commercial Seed Producers (CSPs) to kick-start and scale the domestic production of high yielding seed. To support this Community-based and commercial seed producers’ network, support in the form of training on seed production as well as linkages to the research institutions like IITA and SLARI for the supply of foundation/breeder seeds.
iii. Boost milling capacity for rice and cassava: As mechanised production of rice and cassava picks up, milling capacity in the country will have to be ramped up to both help farmer to add and capture value from their investment, and reduce post-harvest loss.
iv. Invest in agriculture data systems. A system that tracks input use and outputs produced by farmer across the country can help inform policy making and decision by farmers.
A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework has been developed to monitor the implementation of the QA-FSRP. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and implementation milestones have been developed in consultation with key stakeholders. The KPIs contain macro-level socioeconomic indicators, which are meant to provide national-level pulse-taking on the food security, poverty levels, business environment, and inflation. Both the KPIs and the implementation milestones will be tracked and monitored via a real-time, online dashboard, which will be updated weekly by the Pillars and validated by the QA-FSRP Secretariat.
E. Donor Support to improving Food Security in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s development partners have also been contributing greatly towards improving agricultural production and food security by providing support in the form of project loans and grants aimed at improving agricultural productivity especially increased production of rice and other food crops by improving access to finance for farmers and building rural infrastructure. The World Bank is supporting the Small Holder Commercialisation and Agri-Business Development Project and is proving additional financing to cover the construction of 4-8 rural bridges, which will transform the rural areas by facilitating movement of produce to markets as well as access to basic services such as health and education. The World Bank is also in the process of developing the Regional Food Systems Resilience Project and Sierra Leone will be allocated US$75 million to support the national programme,
The African Development Bank is funding the Sierra Leone Agribusiness Industry and Rice Value Chain Development Project and Rice Agro-Industrial Cluster (RAIC) project. These projects seek to promote inclusive and sustainable rice value chain development by focusing on production, processing and marketing. The overall objective is to contribute to achieving rice self-sufficiency and improve the livelihoods of rural people in Sierra Leone. The Islamic Development Bank is supporting the Regional Rice Value Chain Development Project, which is being implemented in the Torma Bum and Gbondapie in the Bonthe and Pujehun districts, respectively.
F. Looking Ahead
There is glaring evidence that efforts are underway to boost rice self- sufficiency and improve the food security situation in the country. The various interventions of Government to and promote sustainable and diversified farming for food self-sufficiency are progressing well. The food self-sufficiency scheme aims to improve and increase food production as well as make it affordable and accessible for domestic consumption and export. Sierra Leone is blessed with abundance of water resources and millions of hectares of arable land, and fairly favorable weather conditions. The production of rice, the staple food needs attention and support from both the Government, development partners and the private sector to improve the food security situation. Relying on the global food chain cannot solve the food security challenge in Sierra Leone. It will only make the country more vulnerable for a long time. Government’s support and commitment is key and critical to boost agricultural productivity, expand the economy, create employment opportunities and reduce poverty. There is therefore the need for more investment in improved technologies, rural infrastructure, research and development and environmentally friendly farming practices to boost agricultural productivity and achieve food security. Government should therefore continue to increase budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector. There is also the need to encourage the private sector to invest more in large-scale and commercial farming, and adopt by adopting appropriate technologies for production and marketing in order to improve the quality of and competitiveness of agricultural produce in the domestic and foreign markets.
Private sector Investments to Improve Food Security in Sierra Leone
The private sector is also investing in the agricultural sector to complement Government and donor effort in boosting domestic food production to reduce food imports, increase agricultural exports and more importantly the improving the food security situation in Sierra Leone. Domestic rice production has been in the hands of small-scale farmers who produce rice on small acreages, using traditional tools with limited use of fertilizers and improved varieties resulting in low yields. Government has been supporting medium to large scale private investment in agriculture by providing tax incentives in the form of low import duty rates for agricultural machinery and equipment zero import duty for agricultural inputs. Agri-businesses are also exempted from paying corporate tax for the first ten years of operation. Below are some examples of private investments in the agricultural sector:
(i) ECO RICE PRODUCTION
Eco Rice Ltd. is a registered company located in Blama, Kenema District in Sierra Leone established with the objective to increase domestic rice production and to add value to the rice produced.
(ii) PEE CEE and SONS ONION FARM IN LUNGI, PORT LOKO DISTRICT
Pee Cee and Sons Onion and Vegetable farming in Lungi is a local agricultural initiative to complement the efforts of the Government to support the food security drive to reduce the importation of onion in particular given good ecology, fertility, acidity, and Ph of the soil for onion farming.
Pee Cee and Sons is currently engaged in massive onion and vegetable farming in Lungi in the Port Loko District and has invested US$ 1.6 million and is planning to invest an additional US$ 2 million in industrial and mechanized farming of 650 hectares starting with 50 hectares. The project has employed 250 farmers on the farm site and there are plans to employ an additional 100 farmers in November 2022.
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector wing of the World Bank Group headed by the Vice President for economics and private sector, Susan Lund and Team visited Pee Cee and Sons Onion and Vegetable farm sites in Lungi to assess the economic viability and bankability of the project and to provide technical support and funding where necessary to expand the scale of the operation.
(iii) MOUNTAIN LION AGRICULTURE SL LTD.
A local agribusiness company registered and operating in Sierra Leone in November 2009 and is currently based in Makeni, Bombali district, Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The company supports 4,000 out-grower rice farmers and employs about 40 full-time staff and 60 part-time staff. The company has invested about US$4 million.
The key objectives of the company are:
(i) To contribute to improving food security and add value to our locally produced rice
(ii) Produced parboil rice to reduce carbohydrate content to such a level that is safe for consumption;
(iii) Contribute to reducing the high foreign exchange spent on rice importation, about US$ 200 million per annum; and
(iv) keep the youths and women gainfully employed, thereby reducing rural to urban migration To achieve the above objectives, the company has acquired a 4-metric ton per hour (4mt/h) Alvan Blanch UK rice mill with a destoner and a 4-metric ton per batch (4 MT/b) mechanical parboiler and dryer.
(iv) SEED TECH
Seed Tech is a Sierra Leonean agro dealer company registered and based in Sierra Leone. It was established in 2001 by a group of promising Sierra Leoneans both at home and abroad to meet agricultural and food security needs. Seed Tech has invested more than US$ 3 million to built this state -of- art multipurpose seed cleaning processing plant in Makeni, Bombali District.
(v) SOCFIN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY SIERRA LEONE
SOCFIN is one of the biggest Agro-industrial Palm Oil companies in the sub-region, with 12,500 hectares of palm oil plantation operating in Pujehun District. The company has the potential to transform the rural areas in the Pujehun district through job creation, technological transfer, and the promotion of cross-border economic activities, which serves as an enabler for sustainable growth. SOCFIN started operations in 2011 with the development of nursery seeds to grow the newly improved selected TENERA oil palm seedlings. SOCFIN has already injected an investment of over US$ 170 Million and currently has1,554 on their payroll for permanent staff, up to 2,600 seasonal staff and 3rd party Agricultural, transportation and security contractors numbering over 940 workers. According to the Country Director, after eleven years of investment, SOCFIN was able to breakeven and will start realizing returns from its investment
In another development, SOCFIN will start using the recently expanded US$27 million oil palm processing factory situated at Kotumahun village in Sahn Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District which is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Upon completion, the mill will eventually employ 340 skilled and unskilled personnel. Currently 170 workers are fully employed supported by casual labourers. In total, 5,000 people obtain their livelihoods from SOCFIN directly.
(vi) SIERRA LEONE TROPICAL LIMITED
This Agri-business company has invested 42 million dollars in pineapple production at Sumbuya, Lugbu chiefdom in Bo District, southern Sierra Leone. The company is cultivating 300 out of 4,335 hectares already leased to produce 200,000 tons of pineapple juice annually and employing 1,250 people from 11 communities. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group provided political risk guarantee for the operations of the company in Sierra Leone.
(vii) FAITH HEALING AGRICULTURAL PROJECT
The Faith Healing Agricultural Project is located in Yainkassa along the Makeni Highway in the Northern province of Sierra Leone aims to support and complement the Government’s broader aspiration of achieving food security and self-sufficiency. The project was founded by the philanthropist, Pastor Francis Mambu, a revered man of God, who used his personal finances to fund the project covering 350 hectres of farmland. The project does not only focus on rice production but also on cultivating vegetables and tuber crops like cassava, potato. The project also includes a poultry that is housing about three (3), five hundred fowls, who have started producing eggs.
“We are still seeing this as a pilot project, the next plan that we try to extend this farming project to other districts in the country,” the Project Manager revealed. He added that people appreciated the notion that ministering was not just limited to the preaching of the Bible, “but we also need to take care of ourselves by producing food to feed ourselves”. The project has improved the lives and livelihoods of many inhabitants in the surrounding localities and beyond. About 450 women in six women’s farmer groups around the six villages are direct beneficiaries of this project. The project also provides them micro-finance loans, of up to three million Leones every year, according to Patrick Koroma, Farm Manager of the Faith Healing Agricultural Project.
The Manager, however, noted that the lack of adequate machines to do the harvesting and other value-adding activities to the rice was a huge setback for the mechanized farming the project was moving toward.
Photo: Combined Harvester owned by the Faith Healing Agricultural Project
(viii) CAPITOL FOODS
Capitol Foods Company is a fruit and food processing company located in Tissor village, Kenema District. It has an annual production capacity of 4,000 metric tons that can serve both the local and export market. As part of its expansion and development strategy, Capitol Food is currently developing the first natural fruit processing and bottling company in Sierra Leone.
The mission of Capitol Food company is to become the leading firm in the agri-industrial sector in Sierra Leone. The company hopes to create income for thousands of rural households and improve livelihoods, provide employment opportunities and bring development to the local communities. So far, it has conducted training and trained 2,831 farmers on topics including best agricultural practices, integrated pest control, and disease management techniques. In 2018, Capitol foods secured a US$600,000 grant from the Sierra Leone agricultural Development Fund (SLADF) towards financing and improving yields and quality standards.
