Tracking ‘New Direction’ Promises: Sierra Leone’s Long Road to Food Sufficiency

By Kongbap Sumner

In the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) New Direction Manifesto, released shortly before the 2018 elections, agriculture was described as the mainstay of the economy, as it contributes almost half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employs 60% of the population, and contributes to foreign exchange.

In their New Direction Manifesto, the SLPP party promised that, moving forward, “the overall goal of our agricultural policy is sustainable and diversified production of food, including crops and animals, on a scale sufficient enough to feed the growing population as well as providing gainful employment while maintaining the natural resource base. Priority actions will focus on (i) increasing investment in agriculture (ii) increasing food crop production (iii) increasing cash crop production (iv) increasing livestock production (v) improving irrigation water management (vi) improving land management and (vii) improving governance and research.”

Political promises – such as the ones above, in which the SLPP party committed to taking key “priority actions” in the area of agriculture – can be tracked during the post-election period, and placed under various categories. Depending on what progress is made (or not made) in the delivery of each promise, possible categories might include promises being labelled as ‘Not Achieved’, ‘Not Yet Achieved’, ‘Promise Broken’, ‘Stalled’, ‘Ongoing’, ‘In Progress’, ‘Nothing Done’, ‘Compromised’, or ‘Broken in Spirit’.

In SLPP’s New Direction Manifesto, a direct link was made between the increasing of food production (something the party promised to work toward) and “the achievement of food self-sufficiency” – which, in turn, results in decreased need for importation of food from other countries, and lower prices of locally produced food for all residents. Yet, after three years of the government being in office, citizens complain that they are still experiencing a considerable rise in the price of basic food commodities – signaling that, when it comes to “increasing food crop production” to a level “sufficient enough to feed the growing population” of the country, this promise is Not Yet Achieved.

The below chart shows the pricing of food items sold in 2018 and 2021 – featuring information provided by traders selling at Freetown’s Garrison Street / Salad Ground and Kroo Town Road Markets.

Before the SLPP won the presidential election in 2018, the 2017 Global Hunger Index ranked Sierra Leone as the third hungriest country in the world, with 38.5% of the population being malnourished – compared to 28.6% in Guinea and 16.2% in Ghana.

According to the World Food Program (WFP) ‘State of Food Security in Sierra Leone 2020’ report, “Food insecurity and vulnerability to shocks have worsened significantly over the past ten years for most Sierra Leoneans, reaching a staggering 57 percent of the population. Over 4.7 million people are food insecure of which 963,217 is severely food insecure and 3,790,029 are moder­ately food insecure. Severe acute malnutrition (measured by mid upper arm circumference) increased from 0.6 percent in 2017 to 3.7 percent in 2020 and is strongly correlated to high mortality risk.”

The WFP report furthered that “Food insecurity and malnutrition in Sierra Leone are mainly caused by limited access to nutritionally diverse foods: 85 percent of children between ages 24–59 months do not consume a diet that meets minimum dietary diversity.” The challenge of providing nutritious meals becomes even more difficult for families who face rising food prices in the local markets.

Musu Kpendema, a trader at Freetown’s Guard Street Market, said in an interview that, “since 2018, the prices of basic food items have almost doubled”. Another trader at the same market, Marie Kabba, said that it is very hard for them as traders these days. “[To] buy food items from farmers as well as selling them to consumers is now very difficult,” she explained.

Mary Breweh who was at the same market to buy food items as a consumer, said that it is very hard these days to prepare any meal for her family. “The prices of every item have almost doubled, and it is hard to manage from the little we come to the market with.”

Despite these challenges, however, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Dr. Abu Bakarr Karim still maintains that Sierra Leone will achieve food sufficiency by 2023 – and he says the Government has procured 410 agricultural machines, including tractors, to cultivate 20,000 hectares of rice farm as a major step toward achieving this promise.

The New Direction Manifesto also highlights some of the numerous challenges in the agricultural sector and the fight against hunger as including: the absence of a robust food security policy; limited access to finance to enable farmers to acquire farm inputs such as improved seeds and technology; poor management of agricultural land; limited value addition to farm products; poor roads; limited market information; limited human capacity; inadequate research; low investments in agriculture; and recently, the use of land for biofuel instead of food production.

Frank Webber is a local farmer and agricultural expert, who serves as National Coordinator for the Sierra Leone Family Farming Platform (FFP-SL).  Webber said that, to be able to achieve the New Direction promise, the sector should provide extension services, rural finance, improved seedlings, and fertilizers in addition to marketing services, communication, education, and health services to farmers to enhance the transition from traditional to mechanized farming – and provide duty-free concession to local industries engaged in the fabrication of farm tools and supply of other farm inputs.

“Government should put mechanisms in place for public and private partnership in tractor management, provide and adopt appropriate [crop] varieties coupled with efficient use of water, nutrients, and technology to increase productivity in rice and cassava, promote the safe use of organic and inorganic fertilizers, and rehabilitate feeder roads linking farming communities to markets,” Webber added.

For his own part, the President of the National Union of Sierra Leone Farmers, Jesse Olu John, suggested that Government must improve mechanisms of land leases for biofuel for the benefit of food production (with less or no social conflict), develop clear policies and laws relating to the leasing of land, make public all land agreements, and define and implement regulatory framework and effective enforcement mechanisms, as well as put in place better environmental management mechanisms.

 “For the Government to be able to achieve its promises in the manifesto, they must promote research through the establishment and strengthening of research institutions, strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture, farm associations and related institutions at all levels, [and] reintroduce cooperatives to improve value addition and markets for food and cash crops and livestock products in rural communities,” Olu added.

Andrew Lavali serves as Director for the Institute of Governance Reform (IGR). He proffered that social accountability, effective planning, and introduction of science, among others, will help Sierra Leone to achieve food sufficiency. He said that, currently, there is a disconnect between decision-makers and farmers, when it comes to achieving the New Direction promise.

Lavali also said that “the 2016 Public Expenditure Tracking Survey states that 68% of fertilizers do not reach farmers, there was overpricing in the procurement of fertilizers and even the wrong types of fertilizers were bought.”  He ended by noting that to measure progress in the sector, one must also ascertain whether there has been an increase in local food production from 2018 to now – something that has yet to be proven.