By Aminata Abu Bakarr Kamara,
Sierra Leone’s harvest season, once a time of abundance, now brings dread for farmers grappling with outdated tools, crippling post-harvest losses, market barriers, and erratic weather. Despite Feed Salone’s $50 million boost in 2024, per Ministry of Agriculture data, systemic hurdles threaten 70% of farmers’ livelihoods and the nation’s food security, per 2024 FAO reports.
Pa Alusine Kamara, a rice farmer in Mattru Jong, Bonthe, swings his father’s 30-year-old cutlass. “We sow with hope, but hand-harvesting wastes crops,” he says. With 70% of farmers using manual methods, per 2024 ministry stats, spoilage slashes yield by 25%, per agricultural surveys. Mechanization like 2024’s 60 shared tractors reach just 12% of farmers due to costs, per rural audits.
Storage shortages ruin crops. Hawa Bangura, a Makeni cooperative leader, loses 40% of her rice to humidity without drying floors. “It rots before market,” she laments. Losses cost $35 million annually, per 2024 FAO estimates, with 65% of farmers avoiding scale-up, per Njala University data, stifling growth.
Poor roads 55% of rural routes impassable in 2024 rains, per public works spike transport costs. Moyamba’s Saidu Conteh faces predatory middlemen: “Sell low or lose all,” he says. Farmers earn 35% below market value without cooperatives, per 2024 trade stats, eroding reinvestment.
Climate-driven weather chaos, with 2024’s 20% crop loss to unseasonal floods, per weather reports, devastates fields. Rains betray us, says Chief Joseph Lebbie of Kakua Chiefdom. Irrigation reaches only 6% of farmland, per ministry data, leaving farmers exposed.
X pulses with frustration. Farmers need machines, not promises posted Bo trader Mohamed Kamara, earning 1,400 likes. Analyst Aminata Sesay demands roads: connect farms to markets, her 900-like post urges. Imam Abdul Conteh sees potential, Feed Salone can work if it reaches us.
Dr. Fatmata Jalloh, Njala University, calls for end-to-end support, invest in threshers, warehouses, and roads, not just seeds. Feed Salone’s 2026 plan includes 120 storage units, 25 mechanization hubs, and $12 million for feeder roads, per ministry projections. A 2024 Kono pilot, equipping 250 farmers with dryers, cut losses by 30%, per project data, showing promise.
Budget cuts 10% in 2024, per Ministry of Finance and 35% of farmers lacking extension services, per audits, slow progress, yet, 2025’s $6 million AfDB grant and 2024’s 60 women-led cooperatives, lifting yields by 18%, per donor reports, fuel hope. A 2024 app linking 1,000 farmers to buyers, per ministry pilots, could scale.
