As efforts to boost the agricultural industry in Sierra Leone intensify, the Agriculture Value Chain Development Project (AVDP) continues to increase its support in vegetable production in line with the Government’s ‘Feed Salone’ Initiative.
Apart from supporting smallholder farmers in the development and rehabilitation of over 2,300 hectares of inland valley swamp this year, the project has also ensured that 5,000 individual beneficiaries were previously supported to cultivate 5,000 hectares of oil palm while 6, 000 beneficiaries are currently being supported to establish 6,000 hectares of cocoa plantation in the various cocoa belt regions of the country. Meanwhile, the AVDP is particularly ensuring that more than 5,000 individual farmers are supported to produce assorted vegetables (bulb onion, tomato, hot pepper) in the Port Loko, Koinadugu and Falaba Districts.
During a symbolic harvesting ceremony of the bulb onion in the Kaffu Bullom Chiefdom, Port Loko District at the weekend, the AVDP Manager, Monica Kwame-Greene, informed the stakeholders that the key objective of the AVDP support is to ensure the farmers can produce vegetables on a much large-scale so that they will increase their income while minimizing the rate of importation. The Manager emphasized that for this large-scale production initiative to be successful, the AVDP has recently facilitated an experience-sharing visit of some of the farmers who travelled to The Gambia to acquire first-hand knowledge and gain relevant experience in large-scale vegetable production, as practised in other parts of Africa. She said the farmers in Port Loko District have successfully secured over fifteen hectares of agricultural land from the local authorities so that the AVDP will increase its support in vegetable production.
This will involve multiple cropping as well as all-year-round production for the next two years. The farmers are divided into groups of 30 members with over 2,500 individual beneficiaries in the Port Loko District, where local bulb onion is commonly cultivated. Supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the AVDP is funded by IFAD and the Government of Serra Leone (GoSL), as part of a greater endeavour to boost agriculture and poverty reduction in the country.
