Link:https://m.huanqiu.com/article/4F6wjJgEbol

About the country in brief

With a land area of 71,740 km² (27,699 sq miles), Sierra Leone is an African Nation that lies on the West Coast of Africa with a population of 7,092,113 (STATS SL, 2015). It’s colloquially called SALONE. The Portuguese explorer, Pedro De Centra first named the mountainous nation “Sierra Lowa” (meaning Lion Mountain) in 1462. Sierra Leone obtained independence from the United Kingdom on 27 April 1961 and became a Commonwealth kingdom on the same day. Sir Milton Margai became Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister. The tropical West African nation is partially encircled by Guinea in the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest, and Liberia in the southeast. The British utilized the area around Freetown in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to "resettle" freed slaves, London's "Black Poor," and numerous African Americans fleeing the American Revolution. Freetown, the nation's capital, was also named after this location. Since 1808, Sierra Leone has been a British Crown Colony, and it didn't become independent until 1961. It is currently one of the Commonwealth's poorest countries with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 4.04 billion US dollars in 2021, according to official data from the World Bank. The country's landscape offers a flat coastal belt, the eastern half of the nation is covered by hills and high mountains, part of the Guinea highlands, Mount Bintumani (1,948 m / 6,391 ft)) within the Loma mountains in Koinadugu (Northern Province) is the highest peak in the country. Main rivers are the Tai river, the Sewa River, and the Moa River. It is rich in minerals, arable agricultural land and blue resources. The country is a Constitutional Republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president on five five-year terms with a maximum 2 terms. It will hold its Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local Council councils multi-tier elections on June 24, 2023. The elections will be conducted under the District Block Proportional Representation System as opposed to the Constituency-based First-Past-the-Post System used since 2007, 2012 and 2018. The recent elections of Paramount Chief Members of Parliament take place in May 2023. The country is also host to 16 judicial districts with 149 Chiefdoms before de-amalgamation but now have 190 after the 2017 de-amalgamation process. However, there has been several paramount Chieftaincy elections held in most of these newly de-amalgamated chiefdoms despite there still being few under the authority of Acting Paramount Chiefs (Regent Chiefs).

The country operates a decentralized government system divided into: Central Government, Local Council and Chiefdom Council which were re-established in 2004 through the Local Government Act (LGA) of 2004 (now reviewed LGA 2021) after being collapsed since 1972 by the late President Siaka P. Stevens, just 11 years of post-independence after he thought the Local Councils were been engulfed with high state corruption, politicized, and mal-administered. Local council members are elected on a five-year mandate from the general suffrage within a locality.

INTRODUCING THE BIG FIVES OF THE PRESIDENT’S MANIFESTO (2023-2025)

According to the 2022 Sierra Leone Poverty Assessment, Poverty Trends, Development, and Drivers, increased investment in education provision and quality can open up formal opportunities for more Sierra Leoneans for growth and economic development. At the same time, investment is required to remove production barriers that businesses face in order to boost productivity, which will allow businesses to grow and hire more skilled workers. Increased investment in Agriculture cannot be connected to the dream of a booming economy that stands on a trajectory to accelerate its exports while minimizing its imports. Approximately 44% of Sierra Leone's population is said to reside in urban areas in 2020, and poverty has been decreasing there more quickly than in rural areas, despite the fact that urbanization largely reflects 'push' factors (such as a lack of services in rural areas) rather than 'pull' factors (such as the rapid growth of manufacturing jobs in urban areas) that will lure such migration pattern.

Consequently, governments have disregarded large-scale commodity agriculture, industrial growth, and long-term investments, not until very recently when the current president in his second term prioritized Agriculture and made it number one of his “BIG FIVE” manifesto mandates for his next 5 years term. The BIG Fives on the President’s second term manifesto are:

(1) FOOD SECURITY (FEED SALONE): An Initiative to Boost Agricultural Productivity to Ensure Food Security and Inclusive Economic Growth. The intertwined investment in agriculture is poised not just to feed the nation but to also fuel job creation, propel economic growth, and alleviate the weight of poverty to its lowest minimum. The president’s top priority in this second term is for Sierra Leone to be food self-sufficient. His government according to the manifesto will reduce hunger & poverty, create jobs, boost export earnings, and build the nation’s resilience in the face of climate change.

(2) HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT: In this manifesto trajectory, the initiative is to nurture skills for 21st-century market needs. An Industry Inclusive economic growth relies on its skilled and educated human capital which the government has made as one of its priorities. The readiness to invest in the healthcare systems to develop a healthy and capable workforce for a 21st-century economy is undeniable.

(3) YOUTH EMPLOYMENT SCHEME (YES!): This presidential initiative is commonly called the “YES” among the others. It’s a presidential initiative to create about 500,000 jobs for young people in five years. The “YES” initiative will include skills and unskilled, long-term and seasonal jobs across all sectors in the country a pathway that promises the Sierra Leonean younger generation that their energy, passion, and ambition will find fertile ground for growth in the country. In this vein, the government will strengthen the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and provide it with incentives to hire, train, and upskill, especially young women and girls.

(4) REVAMPING THE PUBLIC SERVICE ARCHITECTURE: The Public Service is among the list of the “BIG FIVES” under the president’s next five years delivery targets. Delivering meritocratic and fit-for-purpose public services that attract and retain the best and brightest candidates to serve the people of Sierra Leone. This will bring about Efficiency, effectiveness, and Professionalism in service delivery to the people.

(5) TECH AND INFRASTRUCTURE: As the global community transcends to an increase in Technology and Infrastructure, the Sierra Leone president in his new manifesto has included and made it one of his priorities to boost tech and infrastructure.  Tech and Infrastructure Pathways for Sustained Economic Growth (TIPEG) will accelerate the government’s inclusive growth agenda by investing in infrastructure, technology, and digitization of the economy. A commitment to increase investment in energy generation and transmission, the construction of roads and bridges, expanding energy access across the country, and making it easier to link production centers and markets nationwide. Financial digitilization to expand financial inclusion that increase economic participation is also among the TIPEG initiative.

Sierra Leone Agriculture System

Introduction

The inclusion of Agriculture and a topmost priority in the president’s second term Big Five agenda mandate show cases his unflinching commitment to boosting agriculture in the West African nation. This agenda to ensure food security, inclusive economic growth, and helping to feed the country, and the interconnected investments in agriculture are expected to spur economic growth, create jobs, and reduce poverty to its absolute minimum. The independence of Sierra Leone's food supply is the president's major priority throughout this second term. This according to his manifesto is to propel the nation to become more resilient to climate change, eliminate hunger and poverty, increase employment, and increase export revenues.

1. The Sierra Leone Agro-climate region

There are two main seasons that affect agricultural practices in Sierra Leone's tropical climate: the summer or rainy season, which lasts from May to October, and the winter or dry season, which lasts from November to April. Depending on the agro-climatic zones, there is annual variance in the beginning and length of each season as well as change in precipitation. Inland, to the east and north of the country, precipitation declines and is lowest around the coastal plains.

Forest-savanna mosaic, mangroves, mountain forests, and lowland forests are the four physical regions in Sierra Leone that, along with other physical traits, help to define the agroecological zones. The Eastern Region's agroclimatic characteristics, especially the persistent rains, are ideal for cocoa cultivation. The uplands and the lowlands are the two main ecological divisions of the nation. The low-lying coastal plains continue roughly 40 kilometers inland, parallel to the Atlantic Coast. The interior lowlands continue for another 100 kilometers to the east as the height increases. The country's northeastern region is home to the uplands, which are mostly distinguished by hills or mountains, savannah woodland, and rainforest or savannah habitat. The Savannah woodlands are mainly found in the Northern region while the rainforest ecology is more dominant in the Eastern region.

The ecosystem of the lowlands is complex and is made up of riverine grasslands, boli lands, mangrove swamps, and inland valley swamps in decreasing order of area. Although the bulk of land in the uplands is arable, these soils are shallow and generally less fruitful than those in the lowlands. However, the lowland soils also have a tendency to be seasonal wet, which deters farmers from cultivating them because it makes it challenging to work the ground with basic agricultural tools. The marshes in the inland valleys are ideal for growing rice since they are quite fertile. In order to increase soil fertility, the government of Sierra Leone has talked about encouraging a transition away from slash-and-burn upland rice systems toward perennial and tree crop farming as well as legume cultivation.

2. The Economic indicators and the Sector’s Contribution to Gross Domestic Product from 2003-2011

Between 2003 and 2011, the economy of Sierra Leone depended primarily on agriculture. During this time, the industry's over 40% contribution to GDP was higher than that of any other sector, and over 25% of export revenues came from agricultural products. Contrasted with cattle, fishery, forestry, and cash crop production, crops, especially food crops, constituted the largest contribution to the agricultural sector. More than 70% of the labor force, including more than 90% of those living in rural regions, worked in agriculture, according to the 2011 Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey. In Sierra Leone, crop-producing households made up 57% of households in 2011, a decline from 2003. A little less than half of Sierra Leone's 7.16 million hectares were designated as agricultural land, and about 85% of households that produced crops were landowners. The highest changes occurred in the Eastern area, where the average landholdings for these households climbed from 2.5 hectares in 2003 to 2.9 hectares in 2011. The majority of land was used for food crops, especially by indigenous farmers. With 93 percent of households producing crops, rice remained the dominant crop in Sierra Leone. The other major crops grown are cassava, groundnuts, beans, maize, guinea corn, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, yams, eggplants, and leafy greens. In the Eastern region, cocoa, coffee, and oil palm are the three principal cash crops produced. Since 2003, fewer households have produced cocoa or coffee than have produced more oil palm. Additionally, households with bigger landholdings are more likely to engage in cash crop cultivation as they have free access to the land which encourages long-term land occupantship. However, results from the household survey data from 2003 and 2011 showed significantly greater levels of average rice productivity between those years. Although rice yields continued to be below their potential at this time, production improved by three times. Similar to the rest of sub-Saharan African nations, smallholder farmers in Sierra Leone mostly engaged in rain-fed agriculture without the use of machinery. All but a tiny percentage of farm households used basic equipment including hand hoes, cutlasses, and winnowers in 2011 when farming was done. Only 5% of agricultural households purchased inorganic fertilizers in 2011, indicating poor usage of productivity-improving inputs like fertilizers and weedkillers. In 2011, only 13% of farm households reported irrigation on their farmlands.

For many years, the economy of Sierra Leone has been based primarily on agriculture. Agriculture has consistently made the largest sectoral contribution to GDP, averaging 51.8 percent between 2003 and 2011. From 47.9% in 2003 to 52.8% in 2011, the sector's contribution rose, peaking at 54.5 percent in 2009. The growth of the extractive industries sector between 2009 and 2011 contributed to the relative reduction between these years, although the real value contribution to GDP has also decreased. According to the 2013 World Development Indicator, it began at 972 million USD in 2003, increased to 1.057 billion USD in 2009, and then fell to 892 million USD in 2011. The sector has contributed greatly to export earnings with over 25% in 2009

Sierra Leone's economy has been steadily recovering since the end of the eleven years of civil war in 2002, a 2014 Ebola pandemic, a 2017 Mudslide and 2020 Covid-19 with a GDP growth rates ranging between 4 and 7 percent. Sierra Leone's economic progress has always been reliant on resource extraction of its natural resources. Throughout history, successive governments and the public have assumed that "diamonds and gold" are adequate producers of foreign currency revenues and a draw for investment

Figure 1: Agriculture Sector Contribution to Gross Domestic Product (%) from 2003-2011

Source: Statistics Sierra Leone, 2013

Between 2003 and 2011, the crop subsector contributed more to agriculture's GDP share than did fishing, forestry, and livestock put together. Following forestry and livestock, the second highest contributor was the subsector of fisheries. Contribution from the crop subsector rose considerably, from 64% in 2005 to 70% in 2011. Between 2003 and 2011, the contribution of the fishery ranged between 7.6 and 9 percent, reaching a peak in 2005 and a low in 2011. Over the same time period, the share of agriculture's GDP accounted for by the forestry subsector has continuously decreased, while the portion accounted for by the livestock subsector, which was adversely impacted by the civil war, has stagnated. 

Figure 2: The contribution of each subsector of Agriculture to GDP from 2003-2011

Statistics Sierra Leone (2013)

3.Agriculture as a major employer in the Sierra Leone Economy

Agriculture industry- including forestry and fishing, crop farming, and animal production - is the largest industrial sector, employing 59.2 percent of the employed population which clearly shows that Agriculture is the major employer in the Sierra Leone economy. The next major industry is the services industry standing at 31.1 percent, followed by industrial (manufacturing, utilities, construction and mining) accounting for 9.6 percent.

According to data from 2015 Statistics Sierra Leone, even though agriculture is the most predominant industry, it shows some data variations in the proportions at the regional level of those engaged in agriculture: As 25.8 percent are in the Northern region, 17.1 percent are in the Eastern region and 14.6 percent are in the Southern region. Western area, however, accounts for 15.1 percent of the employed population engaged in services.

Figure 3: Agriculture sector employment percentage compared with other sectors

Statistics Sierra Leone (2015)

4. Agriculture Activities by households in Sierra Leone

The 2015 Population and Housing Census (PHC) reveals that there are 732,461 agricultural households, accounting for 57.9 percent of the total households in the country. Out of the 732,461 agricultural households, 625,679 (85.4%) are engaged in crop farming activities, 539,304 (73.6%) are engaged in animal husbandry and 245,957 (33.6%) in fishery.

Figure 4: Percentage distribution of agricultural Households engaged in agricultural activities by type of farming activities

Statistics Sierra Leone (2015)

Compared to 65.3 percent in 2003, just 56.6% of households in Sierra Leone produced crops in 2011. The Eastern area experienced the biggest drops, going from 81.2 percent of households in 2003 to 59.5 percent in 2011. The Northern region had a lower but still significant fall, from 89.8 to 81.8 percent. Both the Southern region, which remained at roughly 70%, and the Western region, which remained at about 3.5%, did not alter.

The 2015 Population and Housing Census (PHC) results also reveal that 86.1% of households in rural areas are agricultural households, compared to 23.3 percent in urban areas. However, at the regional level, it depicts that 74.8% of households in the Northern region are agricultural households, followed by the Southern region with 73.4%. The Eastern region accounts for 72.3% of agricultural households and the Western Area 62.9% of agricultural households. These statistics have continued to show that a larger portion of households in the country are agricultural households making it an agric-dependent nation

5. Percentage distribution of total agricultural households’ production of crops in metric Tons (MTs)

Crop production for both cash crops and food crops has not been sufficient as the West African nation continue to rely on imported food stuff to feed it growing population. However, the results from 2015 PHC shows that a total of 871,693 metric tons (MT) were produced nationally for the 2014/2015 agricultural season with a regional distribution statistics showing the Northern region with 389,996 MT (44.7%) reported the highest production, followed by Eastern region with 240,186 MT (27.6%) and Southern region with 235,465 MT (27.0%). The Western Area recorded the least with 6,045 MT (0.7%).

Figure 5: Percentage distribution of production of crops by regions in Metric Tons (MTs)in Sierra Leone

Source: Statistics Sierra Leone 2015

6.Cultivated Area by Region

The country has still not been able to fully cultivate even up to 60% of it available arable lands. However,a total land area of 1,297,686 hectares (ha) were cultivated in 2014/15 agricultural season which represents 24.2% of the estimated land under cultivation in the country. The regional distribution indicates that the Northern region with 488,131 Ha (37.6%) had the highest area under cultivation, closely followed by the Eastern region with 468,236 Ha (36.1%), whilst the Southern and Western regions had the least, with 330,326 Ha and 10,992 Ha, accounting for 25.5 percent and 0.8% percent respectively. Many rural markets are not integrated because geographical connectivity is very low due to the rugged road system.

Figure 6: Percentage distribution of area cultivated by region

Statistics Sierra Leone (2015)

7. Cocoa and Coffee Exports between 2003-2011

Cocoa and coffee have historically been the two main agricultural export commodities in terms of volume and value in Sierra Leone. Since the end of the 11 country’s 11 years civil war in 2002, cocoa has been Sierra Leone's top agricultural export, and between 2003 and 2011, its export volume surged tenfold to 28 thousand metric tons. The estimated value of cocoa exports in 2010 was 26.5 million USD. Between 2003 and 2009, the value of cocoa exports exceeded the value of coffee exports by more than seven times. The amount of coffee exported in 2003 was calculated at 113 metric tons. This total increased to 7,951 metric tons by 2011. While favorable prices contributed to that sharp increase, the positive export trends pointed to a recovery of permanent crop cultivation which was largely affected during the 11 years of civil unrest.

Among the two, cocoa has enormous potential to reduce poverty and promote economic growth. But at the moment, this potential is not fully utilized. By doubling farmers' incomes, creating jobs, addressing the country's food security gap, and teaching farmers how to adapt to and mitigate climate change and produce climate-smart cocoa. However, the government has developed National Cocoa Value Chain Policy in June 2019 which this policy offers a competitive approach to the sustainable development of Sierra Leone's cocoa industry by 2023 and beyond. The current situation of the cocoa value chain is examined through a triangulated analysis of pertinent literature, stakeholder participation in focus groups, and key informant interviews that lead to the policy. These revealed the potential for transforming the sector into an economically viable industry with investment opportunities that need to be planned and developed.

Figure 2: Cocoa and Coffee Export between (2003-2011) in Volume and Value

Source: Customs and Excise Department, National Revenue Authority (NRA), International Finance, Sierra Leone

Note: Export values are not available for coffee in 2010 and 2011 and for Cocoa in 2011

Today, most of the cocoa is grown in the Kono, Kenema and Kailahun districts in the Eastern province and some parts of Bo district and Tonkolili1. The majority of plantations are owned by small holder farmers who are producers and primary processors in the value chain

Figure 6: Overall Agriculture sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product (2003-2011)

Statistics Sierra Leone (2013)

The government offers farmers public and private support in the form of training, as well as technical and financial support, through the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), NGOs, and private sector organizations. A small amount of cocoa beans are produced. With an average output of 142 kg/ha, the estimate for 2018 points to a national annual export of 12,312,20 tons. For Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, respectively, sub-regional (West African) production is projected at 900,000 and 2,000,00,000 tons. Approximately 400 kg/ha are produced in each of these nations. For cocoa growing to be profitable and sustainable in Sierra Leone, the average farm size and production must be increased. Additionally, in Sierra Leone cocoa plantations are 42 years old on average, well past the age of maximum productivity. However, since 2008, NGOs and business partners have been working hard to revitalize the sector through lobbying and plantation rehabilitation. For instance, GIZ expects to rehab up to 15,000ha by the end of 2020 after rehabilitating 13,500ha between 2010 and 2019. Only the first year of the rehabilitation is funded because it takes three to four years to fully recover. Additionally, it is projected that Sierra Leone produces cocoa on an area of 235,749 ha, a size that is substantially larger than the hectares that have been restored by NGOs.

Despite several efforts exalted to calibrate the cocoa plantation it is still worth noting that due to poor quality, Sierra Leone cocoa beans for more than a decade are sold in the world market as cocoa butter raw material which has resulted to a price discount of approximately 25% over cocoa used for chocolate production.

Figure 8: Volumes of cocoa production from 2016 to 2018

Source: Produce Monitoring Boards (PMB, 2019)

8. Government investment in Agriculture

Despite sharp contractions in Agricultural activities and the economy as a whole due to covid-19 and very recently the War in Ukraine, the 2023 general elections, and the spread of the pandemic, however, pose considerable downside risks and uncertainties that might significantly affect the development forecast in certain sectors including agriculture. In addition to external shocks and several interruptions in the global supply chain, headline inflation in the country has remain higher than predicted. However, governments has made several investment in Agriculture and other Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SME) in recent time to showcase it readiness in it drive for food sufficiency in the country. It establishes the MUNAFA Fund which was launched by the president and became operational in 2021 to help boost SMEs especially those engaged in Agriculture. To further address the issue of SMEs' lack of access to capital, SLL100 billion was allotted by the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) in the national budget for a period of four years (2020–2023). In order to encourage private sector involvement in agriculture and promote the purchase of agricultural inputs, BSL also establishes an agriculture credit facility in March 2021 for SLL100 billion1 (US$8.5 million). Real GDP growth is anticipated to be 4.4 percent on average, with contributions from investments (particularly in mining and agriculture) on the demand side and from manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, and other supply-side industries including mining and construction. The prognosis presupposes an increase in iron ore production along with ongoing substantial investments in new mines (for gold and diamonds) and agriculture, supported by the government's Agriculture Policy Shift to encourage private sector participation. The disruption is caused by some externalities some of which cannot be unconnected to the war in Ukraine but it is also expected that it will decline gradually to single digits as domestic food production increases by 2024 and offsets the effect of high international prices.

In order to resurrect agricultural research in the nation, after the end of the 11 years devastating civil war, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2007. SLARI created a Strategic Plan for the years 2012 to 2021 in order to match its efforts with the government's emphasis on food security, poverty reduction, job development, and commercialization of the agricultural sector. In order to encourage farmers to abandon subsistence farming, the Strategic Plan investigates a new paradigm of agriculture as a business. The use of an Agricultural Production Value Chain (APVC) method to research for development is anticipated to bring about this shift.

Figure 9: Sierra Leone Economic Indicators, (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020e, 2021f, 2022f, and 2023f, percent)

Sources: Micro Finance Model (MFMod) and Micro Poverty Outlook (MPO) data, World Bank Welfare and Poverty Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sierra Leone (2021)

Notes: The contributions of change in inventories and statistical discrepancy were not reported, because they are quantitatively negligible. The output elasticity of revenue used to adjust the primary balance was calculated as the coefficient of a simple log-log regression of income on output based on historical data (2010–18). e = estimate, f = forecast.

The Sierra Leone economy may be characterized as "exploitative" - a rentier state predicated on the exploitation of unsustainable resources or non-reusable assets. Two-thirds of Sierra Leone's population is directly engaged in subsistence agriculture. In 2007, agriculture contributed 58 percent of the national GDP. The COVID–19 epidemic harmed Sierra Leone's economy. After rising by 5.4 percent in 2019, real GDP was expected to decline by 2.7 percent in 2020. The drop was caused by poor external demand for key exports, notably diamonds, as well as decreases in the mining, transportation, commerce, and tourist industries. Because of supply chain interruptions and transportation impediments, inflation was expected to rise to 17% in 2020, up from 14.8 percent in 2019. The budget deficit was predicted to rise to 5.7 percent of GDP in 2020, up from 2.9 percent in 2019, due to a revenue shortfall caused by reduced economic activity which cannot be unconnected to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Development Plan's continuous policy and structural changes must be executed, the economic stimulus program must be maintained, and external financial assistance in the form of grants, concessional loans, debt payment suspension, and restructuring must be achieved. Growth was expected to climb to 3.1 percent in 2021 and 4.3 percent in 2022 under this scenario. Inflation was expected to fall to 13.6 percent in 2021 and 11.3 percent in 2022; the budget deficit is expected to fall to 4.1 percent of GDP in 2021 and 3.6 percent in 2022. Real GDP growth would rise in 2022 due to increased demand for the country's mineral exports and agricultural expansion, before slowing in 2023.

Outside of the Western Area, the agricultural income changes are generally comparable among the country’s four provinces. In response to the pandemic's impact on the agriculture industry, the government significantly increased funding for agriculture in the supplementary budget of USD 138M (almost 3.3% of GDP) passed in July 2020, concentrating on providing inputs like agricultural chemicals and seedlings and enhancing access to mechanization and extension services. While a sizable chunk of the additional funding was used for labor-intensive public works initiatives, primarily on roads.

9. Arable land availability for agriculture purposes

There are two types of land tenure in Sierra Leone. The majority of the agricultural land is communally owned and is managed according to customary laws of tenure by traditional leaders who serve as custodians. Families who have acquired the right to live on a piece of land via ancestry are referred to as landowning families. These families are able to transmit land from one generation to the next. The chiefs of the family decide how much land is used by the extended family, as well as maybe the duration of work and the kinds of crops that are farmed. The land is typically seen as being inalienable from the families and chiefdoms and should not consequently be transferred through sales, however chiefs can allocate property to "non-residents" with the agreement of landowning families.

There are also lands that are not owned by the families or is uncultivated which are considered State lands which being used by government for different purposes. However, out of the 7.16 million hectares of Sierra Leone's total land area, or 48 percent, was categorized as agricultural land in 2011 comparable to other nations in Africa. According to the World Development Indices (WDI), Guinea, which borders Sierra Leone to the north and east and has a land area that is three times the size of Sierra Leone, devoted 58 percent of the land to agriculture, while Liberia, which is neighboring Sierra Leone to the south, devoted 27.3 percent of the land to agriculture. However, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in a 2009 press that 5.36 million hectares, or 74% of the total land was suitable for cultivation. As of the 2009 Ministry of Agriculture report of the total land area in Sierra Leone, 15.4 percent of it was arable under temporary or seasonal crop cultivation, and 1.9 percent was under permanent crop cultivation in 2011.

An exception to the customary land-owning system exists in the Western region, including the Freetown Peninsula, where more formal land ownership structures govern due to the country’s colonial legacy. As a result, land can be bought and sold in the Western area unlike in the rest of the country.

Figure 10: Arable Land compared with other countries as Percent of Total Land (2011)

Source: World Development Indices (WDI 2011)

Figure: Crop categories in Sierra Leone

Source: The World Bank Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Unit Africa Region; Sierra Leone Agricultural Profile (2014)

10. External Support to boost Agriculture in Sierra Leone

On November 1^st 2022, the Chinese Government donated a huge consignment of agricultural machinery to the Government of Sierra Leone to support farming initiatives in the country. Among the agricultural equipment donated were 400 Mobile Rice Threshers, 400 Winnowers, 60 Rice Whiteners, 400 Brush Cutters, 500 Rice Transplanters, 100 Chain Saws, 400 Knapsack Manual Sprayers, 200 Repair Tool Kits, 100 Hand Drills, 5 Diesel Generator Sets, 200 Grease Guns, and 10 Diesel Welder Sets. This was a huge donation from the People’s Republic of China with of a huge structural complement to the machine rings. However, the nation’s president at the official handing over ceremony disclosed that these machineries will be utilized by establishing services centres across the country. One Farm Service Centre will be located at Gberay Junction in Port Loko District to serve farmers around 100,000 hectares of the rice bowl of Kambia, Port Loko, Tonkolili, Falaba and Koinadugu Districts in the northern region. Another will be located in Bo to serve 160,000 hectares of arable rice-producing areas of Bo, Bonthe, Pujehun, Moyamba and Tonkolili District. Training facilities, administrative blocks, mechanical workshops, and storage facilities were said to be established and these centres will further serve as aggregation centers for seeds, agrochemicals, and fertilizers with resident experts and extension workers.

Handing over ceremony of machineries to the President of Sierra Leone and the Minister of Agriculture by by Li Xiaoyong, 1^st November, 2022

However, on announcing the Big Fives of the president’s second term manifesto, the Chinese Government also responded by sending in their expertise to support the president’s initiative. On 31^st July, 2023 a team of Chinese experts in Agriculture landed Sierra Leone to assist the West African nation achieve the re-elected President’s “FEED SALONE” ambition. With a strong focus on enhancing agricultural productivity, the team’s primary mission is to spearhead high-yielding rice and corn breeding initiatives while providing valuable training and support to local farmers. It is anticipated that the entrance of this knowledgeable team will pave the way for information transfer, cutting-edge agricultural methods, and sustainable practices. The Chinese Agriculture Experts Team hopes to make significant changes by working with local farmers, and elevating Sierra Leone's agricultural sector to new heights.

Arrival photo of the Experts from China: A tweet from the Chinese Ambassador in Sierra Leone, Wang Qing 王擎

Challenges

The Government of Sierra Leone identified the challenges inherent with the customary insecure land tenure system, which include deterring investment, creating disincentives in productive land use, and inhibiting the use of land as collateral to access credit facilities to invest in farms, especially for women and youth who most times lack access to land and their contributions into the sector are generally seen as complementary to those of the men (parents or husbands)

The average for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is 27.5 agricultural tractors per 100 square kilometers of fertile land; Sierra Leone only has 1.7 of them. This will means that the nation still largely dependent on subsistence agriculture practices. This terrible situation is also exacerbated sine only 8% of the nation's roadways are paved, compared to more than 12% for Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) as a whole. Further, only 0.1 percent of Sierra Leone's internal freshwater resources are withdrawn each year, and access to energy, agricultural inputs, and freshwater is still limited. Only 60,392 metric tons of rice seed are produced annually in Sierra Leone, compared to 740,215 metric tons across all of Africa. In remote areas, only 5.4 percent of the population has access to electricity, compared to only 23.4% overall. Only 6% of rural communities have access to upgraded sanitation services, compared to 23% of metropolitan areas this will continue to hinder mechanized farming methods. The poor road network is a major constraint on productivity and profitability in the agriculture sector.

In cocoa-producing regions, there is evidence of rising temperatures and falling precipitation, which are already having a severe impact on cocoa production. In addition, some plantations are being destroyed by bushfires during the dry season and flooding during the rains.

Another current challenges identified include lack of access to improved planting materials, employment of traditional tools and technology, aging plantations, lack of access to institutional credit, fragmented markets, and unavailability of planning data and information. Another major global challenge is the effects of climate change, which will call for more resilient farming practices that will withstand the harsh climate realities

The lack of income to buy improved seed varieties continues to show especially among rural farmers whose income level is very low

Furthermore, with so many unregistered agents and purchasers, Sierra Leone's agricultural produce like cocoa, coffee, etc. cocoa trade is fragile and exposed. The ability of farmers to produce high-quality varies, and there is essentially no access to trustworthy market data coupled with a lack of accountability and transparency in premium payments making marketing challenges worse.

Recommendations

(1) The most direct way to lower rural poverty is to raise agricultural income. There are a number of mechanisms that can be considered to accomplish this, but the following list includes options for consideration. First, reducing production costs, through productivity-increasing public expenditures in agricultural extension, irrigation, farm-to-market roads, and other public goods, would increase profitability, even if prices remain constant and possibly also if they decline. Second, reducing marketing costs allows a larger share of the final price to go to farmers and further reduces the cost of purchased inputs. This can be achieved through investments in roads and rehabilitating rice mills damaged or destroyed during the war. Finally, reforming traditional land systems to ensure more secure tenure rights has been shown in other countries, particularly Uganda, to encourage the cultivation of higher-value tree crops.

(2) The government should make it a top priority to continue to provide well-targeted crisis support to disadvantaged people and businesses impacted by elevated food and fuel prices. Increased cash transfers and social safety net coverage for agricultural households impacted by recent shocks might significantly bolster vulnerable households.

(3) Farmers require training and support to adopt climate-resilient farming and learn mitigation strategies like cocoa-shading with nitrogen-fixing plants and other advantageous agricultural practices.

References

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS). (2009). National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan 2010-2030: Sierra Leone’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme.

The Sierra Leone National Cocoa Value Chain Policy June 2019

World Bank (2013). World Development Indicators 2013. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Sierra Leone Economic Diversification Study, 2020 – (P162720)

Sierra Leone Produce Monitoring Board (2019)

The World Bank Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Unit Africa Region; Sierra Leone Agricultural Profile (2014)

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Government of Sierra Leone or any related institution or country thereof. However, the author seeks to publish a well-organized, issue-oriented article on the topic “A brief about Sierra Leone’s Agriculture”.

Name: Koroma Abu Bakarr

Contact: +8619108234492

Email: abubkoroma46@gmail.com

Program: Master Public Management

Institution: School of Public Affairs and Institute of National Governance and Public Policy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)