AfDB Authorises $2.25 Million to Increase Fertiliser Access and Smallholders’ Productivity in Sierra Leone

The Fostering Africa’s Agricultural Productivity through Fertiliser Value Chain Financing (FOSTER) project in Sierra Leone has received approval from the African Development Bank Group for a $2.25 million financing package. The project aims to improve crop yields for over 126,000 smallholder farmers by strengthening the fertiliser value chain and expanding fertiliser access.

Welthungerhilfe is implementing the program, which combines a $1.5 million Partial Credit Guarantee from the Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism (AFFM) with a $700,000 grant for soil health management and $50,000 in-kind assistance from Welthungerhilfe. These resources are anticipated to work together to leverage approximately $9 million in private financing and facilitate the delivery of approximately 9,500 metric tons of fertiliser to smallholders, of whom 10% will be young people and 40% will be women.

Low input use and degraded soil have long been obstacles to Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector. Only 12.8 kg of fertiliser per hectare is the average amount applied nationwide, which is a fraction of the 131 kg per hectare that the Nairobi Declaration recommends. Insufficient fertilisation rates have led to poor yields and an increasing dependence on imports; in 2021, imports of rice alone topped 351,000 tonnes. The goal of the FOSTER project is to buck these trends by boosting sustainable agronomic practices, enhancing supply, and lowering financial risk for private suppliers.

The country manager, Halima Hashi, stated that the FOSTER project is a timely and strategic intervention to address one of the most important obstacles to agricultural development in Sierra Leone.
The foundation for sustainable growth is being laid by reducing risks throughout the fertiliser value chain and bolstering the enabling environment, which will allow smallholder farmers to increase their output and improve their standard of living.
The structure of FOSTER is based on three interdependent parts. The partial credit guarantee facility is the primary financier incentive. Its goal is to lower financial institutions’ risk and open up credit to agro-dealers and fertiliser suppliers. Apex Bank, Ecobank Sierra Leone, Rokel Commercial Bank, and Safe Capital Microfinance are among the participating lenders listed in the project documents. Through the encouragement of these organisations to fund input distributors, the project aims to guarantee a consistent supply of high-quality fertiliser to rural markets.

In collaboration with Sierra Leone’s National Fertiliser Regulatory Agency, a second component focuses on policy and regulatory support. Activities will include promoting gender-sensitive and environmentally sustainable fertiliser policies, building an agro-dealers database, and fortifying regulatory frameworks. These actions are anticipated to increase quality control, market transparency, and the input supply chains’ long-term dependability.

Soil health and adoption on farms are the focus of the third pillar. In the districts of Bo, Kenema, Pujehun, and Kono, the project will train about 126,667 farmers through 120 field days, 100 demonstration plots, and soil testing. According to the project materials, the yields of staple and vegetable crops, such as rice, onions, tomatoes, and soybeans, are anticipated to increase by up to 30%, and the targeted beneficiaries’ fertiliser application rates are anticipated to increase from 2.8 kg per hectare to 35 kg per hectare.

40 per cent of beneficiaries will be women, and 10 per cent will be young people. Specialised training, resources, and financial access are intended to increase opportunities for these groups. Inclusion is a key goal. The project is in line with the African Development Bank’s priorities, which include enhancing capital accessibility, utilizing the demographic dividend, and constructing infrastructure that is climate resilient.

FOSTER, which is set to run for three years, from December 2025 to November 2028, intends to spark a more robust, private-sector-led fertiliser market in Sierra Leone in addition to increasing crop productivity and immediate fertiliser availability. The project aims to improve food security, soil health, and rural livelihoods over the long term by combining farmer-level capacity building, regulatory strengthening, and credit risk mitigation. This will support larger regional initiatives to modernise and transform Africa’s agricultural sectors.