Transformation of agricultural productivity in Sierra Leone
The increased productivity of agricultural produce is crucial to the phenomenon of food security and poverty alleviation.
With better yields, food will be available and affordable and finance will be accrued from the sale of produce.
With the commercialization drive of value addedness and better marketing, economic benefits are bound to blossom.
Crucial to the productivity of agriculture is the availability of the appropriate agricultural advice to farmers. With appropriate information the right crops will be sown, at the right plots, at the right time, with the right fertilizers, with quality processing, valued addedness, and better market.. This will result in increase yields which wills catapult us from the valley of poverty to economic haven.
According to Mr. Adolphus Johnson, Country Focal Person and Board Member of Africa Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) over the years, service providers have been providing a wide range of advice to farmers on the wide range of crops. Rather than improving the state of agriculture, some of these advices have succeeded to a very large extent in confusing farmers which has resulted in small yields and hence they became poorer. No coordination, duplication of intervention, waste of resources, low value addedness, poor marketing, etc.
In response to the provision of inappropriate information to farmers, a two-day planning forum to establish the Sierra Leone Chapter (SLeFAAS) of the AFAAS has been held at the Hill Valley Hotel in Freetown. The meeting brought together several stakeholders including government officials, private sector, university, media, farmers, consultants, etc. They were charged with the responsibility of designing the organizational and operational framework for the establishment of the chapter.
The Sierra Leone Chapter aims to enhance rural livelihoods through improving the quality of agricultural advisory services in the country. This will be accomplished among other things, through the provision of a forum for professionals and experts in agricultural extension, promoting information sharing, capacity building, influencing policies and programmes, facilitating partnerships and linkages, identifying and supporting research and lobbying for and coordinating donor efforts and input.
The provision and standardization of agricultural information to enhance maximum output is an off-shoot of NEPAD with the mandate to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal – that is, the eradication of hunger and poverty. It has been implemented in thirty four countries in Africa with huge successes. The Sierra Leone Chapter will be officially launched in October later this year.
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