Focus on farming as rice price rises
Lush and fertile, it’s easy to see why many feel that farming holds huge potential in Sierra Leone. As with many areas of the country’s economy, conflict has taken its toll and funds are lacking. Then there’s a problem of getting people to work the land. Farming is seen by some as a punishment rather than way of making a living, explained Agriculture Minister Dr Sam Sesay whose task is to stimulate production and create jobs in the sector.
STABEX cocoa project.
© EU Delegation Sierra Leone/Matthias Reusing
“We will not suceed in poverty reduction if we don’t change the circumstances of the farmers,” said President Ernest Bai Koroma, visiting Kenema in the east of the country during March this year. Renewable natural resources such as agro-forestry, agriculture and fisheries add up to 50 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) with 75 per cent gaining their livelihood from the sector.
The country is heavily reliant on imports for its staples like rice. When we visited at the end of February 2008, the high price of a standard bag of rice caused tempers to flare on the streets of Freetown. It was then around 80,000 leones (approximately $27US), whereas a bag cost 50,000 leones (US$17)* during the election season in August 2007.
The international food crisis was mainly to blame for the price hike, explained President Koroma in Kenema, rather than the new government, and had led to a ban on rice exports in some areas. But he added that the crisis had put the spotlight on the country’s reliance on imports and need to up home production. The government is to set up a produce development agency to look at the whole farming sector and strengthen production.
Agriculture Minister, Dr Sam Sesay, told The Courier in his Freetown office he was also worried about rice easily getting through the country’s porous borders: “We only fulfil 60 per cent of our rice requirement domestically.We have traditionally been rice producers and were in fact exporters in the 1960s. Of concern to the government is that a lot of our rice is interestingly going to neighbouring countries like Liberia and Guinea. Studies have shown that Sierra Leone has a comparative advantage of rice production both in the domestic market and to compete internationally.”
He sees a future too in other crops like chili pepper, cashews and ginger beer: “The problem is it [ginger beer] is not properly made. This is one area where you can do a serious value addition and in fact make it a very good local drink that can be processed virtually anywhere.” Cashews, a fruitful crop in the north, will even out the north-south economic divide, said Dr Sesay.
Fair price for land
Improved feeder roads, harmonised product standards in countries of the West African regional organisation, ECOWAS, and land tenure were also issues in re-launching the sector, said Sesay who said that in areas where land is for sale “you have to pay a proper price. There is value for land and people are not getting a fair price.”
Agriculture is not one of the focal sectors for new EC funding under the 10th EDF. In the post-war period, EDF funding channelled to rural development went to resettling people in rural areas and promoting food security. A resettlement and rehabilitation programme (€30M) was launched for social infrastructure in rural areas countrywide, reconstructing health centres, wells and other infrastructure destroyed by war. It was followed by a €24M Link Relief, Rehabilitation & Development (LLRD) project providing tools and seeds, water and sanitation explained Georges Dehoux, of the Food Security Officer at the EU Delegation in Sierra Leone. He said that in a fertile country like Sierra Leone, “food security should not be a problem.” Other food security projects have followed.
With a €4.2M grant from the former EC’s Stabilisation of Export Receipt Funding (STABEX) which offsets losses on agricultural export receipts, value is being added to cash crops in Bombali and Tonkolili (rice) and Kono, Kenema and Kailahun (cocoa). Matthias Reusing, Head of Rural Development at the EU Delegation in Sierra Leone, explained that the country cannot compete with the bulk cocoa exports of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, but working with the Dutch NGO, AGRO ECO, has improved drying methods and certified the cocoa as fair trade and organic. Sold at US$1,000 per tonne pre-dried, it can now fetch upwards of US$1,400– $1,600 per tonne.
Reusing suggested that it would be a good time for the country to hone in on the shortage of organic Robusta coffee in the global market. In the EU there is plenty of good Arabica coffee on the market grown at high altitude in Ethiopia, but not of Robusta, which is grown at a lower level. As Europeans like a blend of Arabica and Robusta, this could be an upcoming niche.
To keep up the momentum of the STABEX project, a €12M sum has been set aside under the 10th EDF to improve production, processing and marketing of cash crops, also including state actors again. And €4M from the 10th EDF will go to decentralisation of the sector building the capacity of district councils and non-state actors. Georges Dehoux emphasised the need to act at a local level to move forward.
Websites: www.megapesca.org
www.oceanic-dev.com
* 1US dollar = 3,000 Leones; 1 Euro = 4,789 Leones
A future in fishing
Illegal fishing could be costing Sierra Leone as much as €23M per year, according to an EC- funded report drawn up by the consortium, Oceanic Développement (France) and MEGAPESCA (Portugal). The study explores the different options for a fisheries partnership with the EU. Some 8,000 artisanal vessels such as dug-out canoes and planked vessels and 52 ocean-going trawlers, mainly South-east Asian and Spanish and Greek boats currently have joint ventures to fish in Sierra Leone’s waters. Chinese vessels are allegedly fishing illegally in Sierra Leonean waters, say observers.
“Everything close to shore is critical,” said Reusing. One of the four options explored by the consortium is for EU vessels to fish tuna, deep water shrimp and small pelagic with such an agreement potentially bringing in royalties of €2.5M a year.
Since there is currently an EU ban on Sierra Leone’s fish exports – which could be lifted this year – catches under the joint ventures must be entering the EU through a third country, suggested Freetown observers. The EU has just launched a €3M Institutional Support for Fisheries Management (ISFM) to assess stocks and provide technical advice for the conservation of resources working with the Institute of Marine Biology and Oceonography of Sierra Leone. The idea is to establish the current status quo of stocks and develop a sustainable management plan, said Reusing. In future the EU wants to continue to improve hygiene standards in the industry and do more to control and survey fishing in seven West African states, including Sierra Leone, to stamp out illegal fishing.
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Focus on farming as rice price rises
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