Challenges in implementing the National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan (NSADP) for subsistence and semisubsistence farmers in Sierra Leone

Abstract

The Government of Sierra Leone's National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan (NSADP) 2010-2030 recommends the gradual eradication of shifting cultivation practices and the active promotion of vertically integrated processing and marketing chains for selected staples (mainly rice and cassava) and export crops (cocoa and coffee). This article examines the implications of the changing national agricultural policy for the subsistence and semisubsistence farmers who represent about two-thirds of the population of Sierra Leone. Using socioeconomic data from a 2009 survey of 600 farm-households located in the country's two main agricultural regions, we classified farms according to the diversity of the crops cultivated. The results illustrate the potential impact on rural livelihoods of the implementation of the NSADP and the challenges related to the transition period required to replace shifting cultivation with permanent agricultural systems.

Can Enhancing Efficiency Promote the Economic Viability of Smallholder Farmers? A Case of Sierra Leone

“…Despite the different crop portfolios and associated farm income levels across the two main agricultural regions of Sierra Leone, two-thirds of farm households in Sierra Leone cultivate up to 12 different crops on plots that average 2 acres [16]. Empirical evidence shows that the widespread adoption of crop diversification strategies is a food security objective, with the presence of inefficient input/output mixes seeming to favor risk minimization over cash-income generation [14,22,23]. The latter is aimed at securing self-consumption needs over production expansion and productivity increase.…”

“…These are representative observations based on the agricultural population in both regions (northern and eastern), five districts (Tonkolili, Bombali, Kono, Kenema, and Kailahun), 11 chiefdoms, and 39 villages. Besides its representativeness and the pertinence of the data, another main advantage of the survey is that it covers all forms of smallholder agricultural systems in Sierra Leone, with observations of all major agro-ecologies: the upland forest tree cropping system, the upland food cropping system, and the lowland (inland valley swamp and Boliland) food cropping system [23]. During the analyses of the 600 farm households surveyed, 25 were dropped due to data inconsistencies.…”