FAO Investment Centre

Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Sierra Leone: From Strategy to Implementation Plan

A concrete action plan was recently designed to strengthen the food value chain by better linking farmers to markets and enhancing capacities for food production and processing in Sierra Leone.

©Lucien Rajaonin (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

18/11/2024

A concrete action plan was recently designed to strengthen the food value chain by better linking farmers to markets and enhancing capacities for food production and processing in Sierra Leone.

Connecting local food production with consumer demand is at the heart of Pillar 3 of Sierra Leone's Feed Salone agricultural strategy. This pillar focuses on aggregation, processing, and market linkages to ensure that food reaches Sierra Leonean consumers at affordable prices, maintains high quality, and generates sustainable income for farmers.

In Freetown, a recent workshop gathered key stakeholders to validate the implementation plan for Pillar 3. The plan outlines an investment roadmap to enhance the country’s capacity for aggregation, processing, and building strong national and international market connections—transforming agricultural strategy into tangible progress for food security and economic growth.

This workshop, co-organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), the European Union delegation to Sierra Leone and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as part of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems Intelligence (SASI) initiative, provides the opportunity for policymakers and representatives of the sector to validate the implementation plan and provide their feedback.

“We are engaging on a long-term path of transformation for our agrifood systems,” explained Dr Musa Kpaka, Sierra Leone’s Minister for Agriculture and Food Security. "This means transitioning to sustainable agrifood systems that link producers to traders and processors in economically viable value chains, generating jobs, adding value to the production and improving marketing on nutritious food products. Feed Salone is a key government programme for operationalizing this vision.”

“This implementation plan was prepared with the support of the FAO Investment Centre. It provides guidance to the Government and its partners, including development partners, private sector companies and farmers themselves, on how to get organized to sustain and improve their businesses and to attract more investment needed to improve aggregation, processing and market linkages in Sierra Leone,” said Saeed Bancie, FAO Representative in Sierra Leone.

“This implementation plan is one of the first steps of the transformation,” confirmed Gerald Hatler, Head of the European Union Delegation in Freetown. “The SASI initiative led by the European Union (EU), with its partners FAO and Agrinatura, aims to support Sierra Leone in translating national agrifood systems goals and plans into operational programs, policies and investments that enhance the economic, environmental and social sustainability of its agrifood systems.”

SASI also supports the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) in evaluating agrifood system financing, including a public expenditure review, and enhancing national capacities for mobilising climate finance in support of Feed Salone.

Validation workshop in Freetown, Sierra Leone ©FAO