Sierra Leone

As in many other Western African countries, in Sierra Leone, small-scale fisheries play a very important role in national food security and nutrition, in guaranteeing livelihoods and as a source of income for many people. However, small-scale fisheries stakeholders face many challenges that hinder the profitability of fishing activities – for instance, food loss and waste.

In fact, through an assessment conducted by FAO under the project titled “Empowering women in small-scale fisheries for sustainable food systems”, of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and continued by the “Implementing the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines for gender-equitable and climate-resilient food systems and livelihoods” project, funded by the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism, the need for improved post-harvest processing technologies is identified as one of the main challenges threatening the long-term sustainability of small-scale fishing communities in the project areas in Sierra Leone.

After consultations with small-scale fisheries post-harvest experts, FAO started the development of a fish smoking centre, which features FAO-Thiaroye processing technique (FTT) kilns, a technology that reduces hazardous working conditions by filtering the produced smoke, shortens smoking time and produces healthier products that meet international food safety standards. The promotion of these kilns has been proven to benefit small-scale fish processors and improve gender equality. The construction of the processing centre and kilns was organized together with local stakeholders and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, to ensure that management, maintenance and use arrangements are accounted for and that complementary trainings will ensue.

Learn more about the  FMM project.

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