By Allieu S. Tunkara
Several reports and surveys have indicated that, Sierra Leone is endowed with huge agricultural potentials which the nation can harness for its economic growth.
Sierra Leone is an agrarian nation considering its natural vegetation, interior plains and fertile bolilands in the Tomabom and Gbondapi communities in Bonthe and Pujehun districts, Southern Sierra Leone apart from other farming communities.
Back in the early 1930’s, Sierra Leone was an exporter of rice to other countries of the world. The foreign earnings the country received were directed towards ensuring a buoyant economy.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) 2002 indicated that between 1930 and 1951, agriculture accounted for 66.8% of total export from Sierra Leone.
However, in 1961, minerals of which 79% were diamonds came to account for 87% of total exports. The shifts did not only render the economy volatile but also subjected it to fluctuations in the international market. The figures presented by the report clearly manifested a high preference for precious minerals at the expense of agriculture.The neglect of agriculture became pervasive throughout successive governments.
In recognition of the relevance of agriculture to the economy of Sierra Leone, the former government, in 2007, campaigned on the platform of the Agenda for Change (AFC) which looked at five thematic areas of state governance: energy, health, education, infrastructure and agriculture.
The AFC was transformed to the Agenda For prosperity (AFP) with a focus on the same areas.To demonstrate its determination to invest in agriculture, the then government brought back home an erudite Sierra Leonean, Professor Monty Jones, through the Office of Diaspora Affairs (ODA).
ODA as an institution was set up by government to track down highly talented Sierra Leoneans abroad with the expertise relevant to the nation-building project.
Professor Jones is a distinguished agricultural researcher who had gained fame through his discovery of the Nerica rice Variety being a product of a cross-breeding research. The crop is doing well in both temperate and tropical parts of the world. As Chairman of the Global Forum for Agriculture, he championed the success of agriculture in 55 countries in the world.
Upon assumption of the Office of Minister of Agriculture in 2015 under the Koroma government, the World Bank and International Development Association (IDA) doled out US$55M to the agricultural sector in April 2016 for the enhancement of small holder commercialization in Sierra Leone.
The project had a five year time frame targeted at Small holder farmers and selected agri-business firms in the country with a particular focus on taking commodities to market centres.
It was aimed at benefitting 500 small holder farmers of which 40% were women and youth farmers. The project added to the 45 donor-funded projects then in the agricultural sector with a cumulative sum of US$200M.
At the time, the said sum was allocated to the agricultural sector, Parmindar Brar was Country Director of World Bank in Sierra Leone.
Mr. Brar said in a press briefing held at the World Bank Conference Hall in Freetown that, out of the US$55M, US$19M would be allocated to agribusiness development, US$26M to the rehabilitation of feeder roads to link small holder farmers to market centres; US$6M for capacity building of farmers’ organizations and US$4M to support project coordination, monitoring and evaluation.
The monetary allocations to the various agricultural components had an overall aim of value addition to various agricultural produces.
Sierra Leone, in 2016, was rated at 28%, according to Parmindar Brar, for value addition to agricultural produces instead of the 38% benchmark report for Africa.
The feeder Road rehabilitation was prominent in the project, according to the World Bank Country Director, as the country experienced a 380mm rainfall within six months.
Another World Bank report also indicated that, agriculture accounted for 50% of Sierra Leone Gross Domestic Product and between 60% and 70% of the country’s population were actively into agriculture.
Brar also pointed out that the highest poverty rate levels were compounded by low input, low export and low productivity in the last ten years .He further attributed the low agricultural productivity to lack of access to improved seeds, no access to credit facilities by farmers and post harvest losses.
A World Bank Survey in 2013 had also indicated that only 2% of the country’s farmers enjoyed access to improved seeds and 75% used fertilizers during cultivation. The report further indicated that, out of 5.4 million hectares of arable land in Sierra Leone, only 12% is cultivated.
Sierra Leone’s current Agricultural realities
The 2018 general elections was a hotly contested one in Sierra Leone. The government during the campaign period promised to usher in economic diversification in the country with a particular focus on agricultural investment. But, the promise still remains a castle in the air as the Tomabom and the Gbondapi bolilands in Bonthe and Pujehun districts, Southern Sierra Leone are yet to be cultivated for the common good.
In the midst of these investment potentials, the youths are at the pivot of agricultural investment as they possess the energy to meet the labour requirements in the agricultural sector. However, successive governments have failed to capture and utilize the youths for agricultural investment in the country. As a result of the neglect of youths, most have trooped to urban centres from rural communities where they would have been gainfully employed. Freetown hosts a great number of up-country youths where most of them participate in the informal sector particularly street trading.
On the eve of Christmas and New Year, dozens of youths returned home in a small village called Rowala in the Lokomasama chiefdom, Portloko district, Northern Sierra Leone. The small town was full of youths during the festive period but now conspicuously empty as the youths have gone back to Freetown after the festive period. The Northern town of Rowala had gained fame for rice production. Neighbouring towns and villages would spend days and weeks in Rowala community to stockpile on their food supplies for both subsistent and commercial purposes. Now, agriculture in all its forms, in the community is at an all-time low as the able-bodied men and women have migrated to Freetown leaving the aged in the farms.
Another village, Mathumu in the Maforki Chiefdom, Portloko district has been deserted by youths. They are in Freetown and other urban centres with deep-rooted interest in the commercial motorist [okada} trade. The elderly are weak and thus less inclined to effectively undertake agriculture particularly, rice farming. Consequently, food has become a serious challenge in the face of dire economic circumstances. A bag of imported rice hovers between Le250, 000 and Le 300,000, the equivalent of approximately US$30.The government still grapples with the problem of feeding over seven million people. The figure is expected to rise in the coming years.
Dr Habib Sesay a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in a paper he presented at the 16th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Knowledge on the theme: ‘From Policy to Practice,’ made a strong case that is germane to the sustainability of agriculture in African countries including Sierra Leone.
The author had contended in his paper that, despite the abundant… agricultural resources, there is consensus among pundits that the performance of African economies including Sierra Leone and the gloomy forecast means that greater effort is needed at all levels-local, national and international to radically transform the current stagnated development trend.
Dr Sesay called for a program of fundamental, economic and financial restructuring in Africa in general and Sierra Leone in particular and that the interest of the poor must be placed at the core of national policies with a deep focus on agriculture.
This article further contends that, no matter how vigorously government pursues prudent policies for the enhancement of Agriculture, the objective would be hardly realized if not entrenched within a solid framework of youth attraction to the provinces.
This piece further resonates with the proclamation of the Ghanaian-born UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anan on a Green Revolution in Africa. This means that African leaders must invest in agriculture to feed their teeming populations if not to export food abroad.