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In Five Years… Sierra Leone Govt Triples Food Production

Posted on March 27, 2013 at 02:19:43 PM AEDT

In Five Years… Sierra Leone Govt Triples Food Production

Latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture has indicated that the government of Sierra Leone has scored another resounding success in the agriculture sector particularly through the Smallholder Commercialization Programme which has significantly transformed farmers into small scale entrepreneurs who are now busy contributing to an unprecedented upward trend in the production of major food crops like rice, cassava, Sweet Potato, Groundnut and oil palm.

A recent report presented by the  Statistics Division, of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Food Security revealed that since 2007 to date, domestic rice production had jumped from 588.4 metric tons to 1, 141,417metric tons; indicating a 35% increase.Cassava production jumped from 1,893,865 to 3,585,172 metric tons, indicating a 34% increase while sweet potato production has jumped from 110.172 metric tons to 220, 829 metric tons, representing a 34% increase.  The report was produced from a joint exercise involving the Ministry of Agriculture and credible partners including, FAO, WFP and sub-regional food security organizations like the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Draught Control in the Sahel (CILLS) and the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET).

The report also gave a very impressive status of palm oil production despite the fact that the survey only captured production figures from cultivated oil palm and not from wild oil palm which is the preferred choice for consumption by most Sierra Leoneans. The figures show a leap from 1,627,911 metric tons in 2007 to 3,551,765 metric tons in 2012.

For traditional export crops like cocoa and coffee, the report showed an upward trend of 35, 523 metric tons in 2007 to 118,633 metric tons in 2011. Coffee production jumped from 88,441 metric tons in 2007 to 141 428 metric tons in 2011. This has increased the country’s agricultural exports value from      Le 40,789,500 in 2007 to Le202, 194,993 in 2011 .This has invariably lead the agric sector to increase its real growth (GDP) rate from 4.17% in 2007 to 5.31% in 2011. And if this positive trend continues, this 5.31% growth may soon eclipse the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Process’s (CAADP) 6% target for CAADP member countries. 

In all of these, it is clear that the agric sector continues to face serious challenges. And as indicated by the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Dr Joseph Sam Sesay, the sector is still faced with the challenges of changing the perceptions and attitudes of farmers towards commercial agriculture, creating market outlets for farmers, illegal exporting of our produce to neighboring countries, inadequate and untimely government and donor funding, reducing post harvest losses, increasing mechanization to cushion the effect of rural urban migration on agriculture amongst others.

As a result of this significant development in the agric sector the report further revealed that the country had recorded a 50% drop in the value of food imports. This is further verified by the budget speech of the Minister of Finance in 2012 which revealed that the value of food importation had dropped to $32m from $15m.

“The cocoa crop has started making profit from Le79M in 2011 to almost Le1.0 billion in 2012, the report stated.”

It concluded that Sierra Leone is gradually emerging as a potential supply source for local rice, Gari and Palm Oil in the ECOWAS sub-region region.

It could be recalled that, soon after he came to power, President Ernest Bai Koroma alongside his Minister of Agriculture were crowned CAADP champions by other African Heads of state apparently as a result of the political will expressed by the President in making agriculture the engine for socio-economic growth and development in Sierra Leone.

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