The government of Sierra Leone is a proud recipient of the African Development Fund's approved $2 million US dollar grant to boost the country’s food production.
This was confirmed by the Bank on July 27, 2022, noting, "the project will be rolled out through the established e-wallet input distribution system over two cropping seasons, beginning in 2022."
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group, in its press statement (https://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/african-emergency-food-production-facility) says, "The program falls under the Bank’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, a response to the global food crisis that resulted from the Russian-Ukraine conflict, which has deepened existing food insecurity in Sierra Leone."
The $2 million United States dollar African Development Fund’s grant program will focus on the production, harvesting, and marketing of rice, while the Ministry of Agriculture will be providing smart subsidies to 67,000 smallholder farmers to reduce the cost of certified rice seeds and fertilizers.
Also, the program will benefit rice value chain actors by supporting the government of Sierra Leone to improve the regulatory environment to achieve climate-resilient agricultural development.
According to the African Development Fund statement, "by the end of March 2023, the government expects to distribute 1,000 metric tonnes of subsidized fertilizers and 1,675 metric tonnes of subsidized seeds." An additional 5,862 metric tonnes of rice is expected. "
The World Food Program (WFP), in April, estimated that 1.1 million people, accounting for 13.4 percent of the country's population, are facing acute hunger, presenting a case that their livelihoods are at risk as a result of inadequate food consumption. According to the African Development Fund, even though food accounts for approximately 32% of merchandise imports in Sierra Leone, an additional 2 million people are suffering from chronic hunger.
However, the African Development Fund, in their statement, said, "Economic growth projections have been revised down to 3.6 percent in 2022 from 5.9 percent due to the Ukraine-Russia war, which has disrupted the global supply chain and led to increases in international prices of fuel and food items."
Sierra Leone's President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio
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