Sierra Leone’s economy has, over the years, relied heavily on the mining sector in general and diamonds in particular. However, between 1991 and 2000 the country was comprehensively destroyed in a brutal civil war that engulfed the West African state.
Seven years after the war was declared over, the country is still struggling to reactivate economic activities from yesteryear — despite praise from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its economic progress during the post-conflict transition.
Prior to the civil war, Sierra Leone earned its foreign exchange with agricultural commodities such as cocoa, coffee, palm kernel, piassava, rubber and ginger. Today, the situation is dramatically changed with only cocoa appearing as a significant export, along with exports of garri (cassava flour), palm oil and rice to the rest of the region.
Experts say Sierra Leone has the resources in terms of arable land, water and climate to again develop into an agricultural exporter, but the civil war was a disastrous blow to an already ailing sector.
Now the infrastructure is dilapidated, there is chronic rural poverty and food insecurity and the private sector seems to lack the confidence to undertake long-term investments. The war also accelerated the exodus of young men from agriculture, leaving a shortage of human resources in rural areas.
The new President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, is aware of the urgent need to revitalise the economy, as can be noted in his maiden speech during the state opening of Parliament at the beginning of October.
He said: ”My government, with the participation of the private sector, will improve agricultural productivity by providing necessary farms inputs, machinery rentals and agricultural extension services to farmers.
”We will also encourage a shift from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. Cash-crop production is an important component in the overall commitment of my government to beef up the national economy.”
Benefits
While the mining sector may be more important in terms of the value of exports, the economic benefits of agricultural exports could be more widespread. According to figures of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, agriculture contributes more than 45% of the country’s gross domestic product.
It is also estimated that 75% of the population is directly or indirectly involved with agriculture. For some, this means that the development of agricultural exports will be critical to improve rural livelihoods by moving farming communities into the market economy.
Cocoa and coffee are the two major cash crops historically, with some palm oil also being exported to neighbouring countries. Available data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry suggests that about 67 000ha are devoted to coffee, 42 000ha to cocoa and 18 000ha to estate oil palm.
In addition, there is a substantial amount of land in smallholder oil-palm production — perhaps 32 000ha. Almost all production currently takes place on smallholder plantations averaging 1ha to 2,5ha in size.
However, many of the orchards are old and the war caused widespread abandonment, as witnessed by the minimal output of coffee. About 85% of cocoa is grown in the Kenema and Kailahun districts in eastern Sierra Leone. The distribution of coffee production is similar. Oil-palm production is much more widely distributed.
Agriculture is facing a mountain of constraints. Every facet of operation in the country is plagued with corruption. The country ranks as the world’s fifth most corrupt, according to Transparency International, a global civil society organisation that fights against corruption.
As an example, former agriculture minister Harry Will apparently pocketed $1,5-million meant for the purchase of rice seeds for rural farmers in 1997. According to records at the Sierra Leone High Court, he was convicted but only received a fine of $180.
Problems
Traders and farmers face basic problems such as having to rely on word-of-mouth transmission of market information regarding prices, standards and lack of market access. For instance, farmers have little or no knowledge of the world market price for cocoa and other export crops.
Moreover, technology is needed for production and processing of rice, cassava, oil palm, cashew and other products. Remnants of such technology are evident in the rusted, burnt and dilapidated equipment found abandoned throughout the countryside.
Morie Lamin, a cocoa and coffee trader in the eastern town of Kenema, says: ”What is needed is delivery systems for making this equipment available, providing access to servicing and spare parts and giving producers and processors the financial means to purchase or lease it.”
The same is true for inputs. Other than through donor-financed and non-governmental projects, there are almost no fertilisers, chemicals and other agricultural inputs available outside Freetown.
The appalling state of the roads in the interior not only directly affects the marketing cost of agricultural products, but also has significant indirect consequences in adding to the cost and difficulty of supplying food and agricultural inputs in rural areas.
The amount of time taken to get products and inputs to and from market takes away from the time that might otherwise be used for the cultivation of cash crops.
Before the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, subsidised agricultural credit was available through specialised banks, projects, and other institutions. This credit was generally rationed and went disproportionately to large producers and processors.
Much of it was never repaid. The result was a collapse of these institutions and a restructuring of the banking system along sounder financial principles. Today this system is relatively sound, but credit is scarce and expensive. It is beyond the reach of most rural enterprises, which need access to finance in order to modernise agriculture.
Investment
With little credit available to farmers, the question arises of how they may be expected to invest in the planting of cocoa, oil palm and cashew trees, which are relatively long-term investments.
Even if the financial situation in rural areas were much better, most of this credit would be working capital for traders and perhaps a bit of medium-term credit for a few larger producers.
In spite of these drawbacks, figures from the Ministry of Finance and Development reveal that the country’s economy has registered some growth in recent years, propelled by remittances and investments from the Sierra Leone expatriate community, selected mining investments — notably in rutile and bauxite — and by foreign aid.
Much of this growth was concentrated in the informal agricultural, fishing, mining and services sectors that make up the bulk of the economy.
During a visit to Sierra Leone last year, former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz praised its post conflict recovery as successful. This was echoed by the IMF, which said: ”Sierra Leone has been making good progress toward securing macroeconomic stability.”
However, it remains to be seen if the heralded economic progress can transform and improve the lives of the impoverished people of Sierra Leone. — IPS