1

Food insecurity and poverty, a

major challenge to meeting

SDGs target 2.1 in sub-Saharan

Africa

With millions suffering from

severe food insecurity in the

region

The second edition of the Regional

Overview of Food Insecurity in sub-

Saharan Africa (2016) reveals that

some 153 million people, represent-

ing about 26 percent of the popula-

tion above 15 years of age in sub-

Saharan Africa, suffered from se-

vere food insecurity in 2014/15.

“What it means is that, around one

out of four individuals above 15

years of age in sub-Saharan Africa

was hungry but did not eat or went

without eating for a whole day for

lack of money or other resources for

food”, remarked Bukar Tijani, FAO

Assistant Director-General and Re-

gional Representative for Africa.

P3

Food insecurity and poverty,

a major challenge to meet-

ing SDGs target 2.1 in sub-

Saharan Africa

With millions suffering from

severe food insecurity in the

region

The story of a Sierra Leone-

an

vegetable farmer

EPT-2 redesigns interven-

tion focus to country priori-

ties

Preventing small ruminants

and poultry against diseases

Stakeholders discuss the

implementation of the Sierra

Leone Community Based

Forestry Concept

Photo news on ADG’s visit

to Sierra Leone

Food insecurity and poverty, a major challenge to

meeting SDGs target 2.1 in sub-Saharan Africa

With millions suffering from severe food insecurity

in the region

L-R: Deputy MAFFS, Marie Jalloh; Minister of Agriculture Foretsry and Food Security,

Prof. Patrick Monty Jones and the FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Rep-

resentative, Bukar Tijani launching the SOFI 2016

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

2

Preventing small ruminants and poultry against

diseases

FAO conducts blanket vaccination

FAO in partnership with the Live-

stock Division of the Ministry of

Agriculture, Forestry and Food Se-

curity (MAFFS), under the project,

Post Ebola Recovery, Agribusiness,

Food and Nutrition Security and

Women's Empowerment conduct-

ed a five-day blanket vaccination of

small ruminants and poultry

against major disease threats in six

districts in the country.

The vaccination exercise was con-

ducted from 21 to 26 February 2017

in 12 Agribusiness Centres (ABC)

and nearby communities within ten

miles radius in Bo, Kailahun,

Kenema, Moyamba, Kono and

Koinadugu Districts. At least, 2

thousand animals were vaccinated

in each ABC and its nearby commu-

nities.

The high incidence of pests and

diseases like trypanosomiasis, pes-

te des petits ruminants (PPR),

pneumonia and ecto-and endo-

parasites is among the major con-

straints facing small ruminant pro-

duction in the country.

FAO together with MAFFS imple-

mented the project to contribute to

the two-year Ebola recovery strate-

gy of the Government of Sierra Leo-

ne with an overarching objectives

of restoring basic socio-economic

services affected by the Ebola dis-

ease outbreak in the country and

increase private sector role in agri-

culture and women’s empowerment

The vaccination was a major activi-

ty of one of the key components of

the project, which was focused on

the development and implementa-

tion of small livestock production

and animal disease surveillance

systems.

The project supported 84 groups,

seven each, from 12 ABCs, to pro-

cure a total of 2, 520 (two thousand

five hundred and twenty) goats. It

also trained 36 Community Animal

Health Workers (CAHWs) – three

from each beneficiary community –

and provided them with start-up kit

of drugs, antibiotics and assorted

vet clinic simple equipment to pro-

vide veterinary services to their

communities and promote the im-

portance of keeping animals in a

safe and healthy environment.

In order to ensure adequate supply

of drugs, the project supported the

establishment of animal drug shops

(vet clinic) at each of the 12 ABCs,

which are being administered by the

veterinary personnel.

The country has very few trained

veterinarians and there are no qual-

ified service providers in the rural

communities. The vet shops were

stocked with common drugs and

equipment in treating the diseases

of poultry and small ruminants.

Stakeholders discuss the

implementation of the

Sierra Leone Community

Based Forestry Concept

The Forestry Division of the Minis-

try of Agriculture, Forest and Food

Security (MAFFS) in collaboration

with FAO on Tuesday, 21 March

2017 held a National multi-

stakeholder inception workshop for

Piloting the Sierra Leone Communi-

ty Based Forestry (CBF) Concept.

The workshop brought together

stakeholders in the agriculture, for-

estry and environment sectors, in-

cluding local authorities, policy

makers, academics and community

based organizations at the Family

Kingdom Resort in Freetown, for

the presentation of the entire CBF

Concept and discussion on its im-

plementation. Page 6

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

3

The Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agricul-

ture, Forestry and Food Security, Pat-

rick Monty Jones, noted that the agri-

culture in sub-Saharan Africa is strongly

based on household, small-scale farm-

ing, and that majority of African farm-

ers cultivate less than 10 per cent of

their land, which could be attributed to

many factors including poor governance

of land tenure and shocks and stresses

due to climate change resulting to food

insecurity.

“To overcome these challenges, the agri-

cultural sector strategic objectives and

priority activities should include in-

creased production and productivity of

staple food crops through value chain

approach for food security, promote

commercial agriculture; promote and

increase value-adding activities for agri-

cultural products, increase the produc-

tion and export of cash crops, and im-

prove access to finance for farmers”, he

recommended.

The report recognizes the need to spur a

broad-based economic transformation,

particularly in the agricultural sector,

which is the major source of income in

sub-Saharan Africa, to generate a sub-

stantial reduction in poverty and im-

prove food accessibility.

It cites unstable food markets and com-

modity prices and natural disasters,

including severe droughts and floods

leading to failed crops, insufficient pas-

ture feed and water for livestock, as well

as persistent political instability, con-

flicts and other forms of violence as the

main triggers of food insecurity and

malnutrition in the region.

On average per capita income, the re-

port says it is three times lower in sub-

Saharan Africa than in other regions of

the world in 2014, although it witnessed

a 30 percent increase between 1990 and

2014.

Also, poverty levels declined in the re-

gion but remained the highest in the

world, with the region being far from

halving the proportion of people living

in poverty.

Moreover, even though some progress is

being made in reducing malnutrition,

evidence shows that many countries in

the region suffer from a triple burden of

malnutrition, that is, undernutrition,

micronutrient deficiencies, and over-

weight and obesity, the latter being re-

sponsible for rising levels of non-

communicable diseases.

Key social intervention strate-

gies

According to the report, a varied num-

ber of comprehensive social protection

policy frameworks and institutional

arrangements have been introduced in

the region to integrate nutrition and

agriculture.

In this regard, Bukar Tijani observes

that “it is imperative for countries to

adopt multisectoral and multidiscipli-

nary approaches in integrating agricul-

ture, nutrition, social protection and

related measures by realigning, inte-

grating and coordinating activities and

accountability mechanisms to deliver

evidence-based sustainable nutrition

solutions and outcomes.”

The report also calls on countries to

review and exert efforts in order to im-

prove the translation of political com-

mitments and declarations into effective

programmes on the ground, particularly

in the context of the ambitious targets

set in the Malabo Declaration for 2025

and the Sustainable Development Agen-

da for 2030.

It laments that several documented pol-

icy commitments and strategies are yet

to generate the expected results, but

says that many country experiences

illustrate the feasibility of eliminating

hunger and malnutrition through the

right combination of cross-sectoral poli-

cies and programmes.

Policy reforms

The report advocates for continued poli-

cy reforms to sharpen their focus, and

the creation of an enabling environment

for investment and participation by all

relevant stakeholders, saying that this is

critical to ending hunger, and achieving

food security and improved nutrition.

It specifically calls for the development

of innovative resource mobilization

from a broad set of stakeholders from

the public and private sector and finan-

cial instruments that would enable the

implementation of actions in a sus-

tained and widespread manner to scale

up food security and nutrition pro-

grammes in sub-Saharan Africa.

“As the magnitude and impact of crises

and disasters increase – aggravated by

the overexploitation of natural re-

sources and climate change – more and

more households, communities and

governments in the region are less able

to absorb, recover and adapt, making

them increasingly vulnerable to future

shocks,” the report said.

The report urges governments to inten-

sify their efforts to ensure that years of

gradual agricultural development gains

are not wiped out by recurrent shocks,

adding that increasing the resilience of

agricultural livelihoods and promoting

and financing climate-smart agricultur-

al practices would be a powerful lever to

reach the pledge of the Sustainable De-

velopment Goals “to leave no one be-

hind”.

Furthermore, immediate short, medium

and long-term measures are needed to

promote and scale up appropriate tech-

nologies to adapt and mitigate climate

variability and change, to develop resili-

ence monitoring and evaluation frame-

works, and to minimize the impacts of

El Nilo affected communities.

“Building resilience through peace-building efforts is critical to food securi-ty and nutrition. In armed conflict and protracted crises, protecting, saving and rebuilding agricultural livelihoods to

save lives and create the conditions for longer-term resilience is a key step to-wards ensuring peace and stability. The critical role of the agriculture sector in crisis situations must not be overlooked and necessary investments need to be

made”, the report recommends.

Food insecurity and poverty, a major challenge to meeting SDGs

target 2.1 in sub-Saharan Africa

With millions suffering from severe food insecurity in the region

4

EPT-2 redesigns intervention focus to

country priorities

The FAO component of the USAID

Emerging Pandemic Threat (EPT-2)

has redesigned the focus of the pro-

ject implementation to address not

only Ebola Viruses and other Filo-

viruses, but also priority Zoonotic

Diseases as determined by the Gov-

ernment of Sierra Leone.

On Tuesday 14 March 2017, a Con-

sultative Meeting was held at the

Family Kingdom Resort in Free-

town, where country partners and

stakeholders discussed the priority

zoonotic diseases to address in the

country and the project implemen-

tation plan.

Effective March 2017, the FAO com-

ponent of the USAID EPT-2 Pro-

gramme is being aligned with the

Global Health Security Agenda

(GHSA) Action packages and Joint

External Evaluation (JEE). For this,

USAID Prioritized Zoonotic Diseas-

es, One Health Workforce, National

Laboratory Systems, Biosafety &

Biosecurity as the four Action Pack-

ages for the project implementation.

With the reoriented work plan, the

project, among other things, intends

to put surveillance systems in place

for priority zoonotic diseases/

pathogens, improve the animal

health workforce capacity within the

national public health system; es-

tablish mechanisms for responding

to infectious zoonosis and potential

zoonoses; ensure that the national

laboratory system is capable of con-

ducting and detecting at least two

priority diseases; ensure that hu-

man resources are available in the

country to implement core capacity

requirements; whole of Government

biosafety and biosecurity system is

in place for human, animal, and

agriculture facilities.

Prior to the reorientation exercise,

the project was focused on surveil-

lance in domestic and livestock spe-

cies for a possible carrier of EVD

and filoviruses. It was engaged in

supporting the Ministry of Agricul-

ture, Forestry and Food Secuirty

(MAFFS) for the training of live-

stock officers in the collection, anal-

ysis and interpretation of data; the

training of laboratory technicians

and the strengthening of laboratory

structure and provision of equip-

ment and reagents.

Agriculture officials in

the ECOWAS region

share knowledge on the

formulation of agricul-

ture investment pro-

jects

Agriculture officials and experts

from five English-speaking mem-

ber countries of the Economic

Community of West Africa States

(ECOWAS) were gathered in Free-

town, the capital of Sierra Leone,

for a training session in the formu-

lation of agricultural investment

projects.

The training is organized by

the Regional Agency for Agricul-

ture and Food (RAAF) of ECOWAS

with technical support from the

Food and Agriculture Organization

of the United Nations (FAO)

through the project " Capacity

Building for ECOWAP Implemen-

tation", which is funded by the

Spanish Cooperation.

The event took place from Monday,

27 March to Friday, 31 March 2017

at the Golden Tulip-Bintumani Ho-

tel in Aberdeen, Freetown. It

brought together ten experts from

the ministries of Agriculture of the

five ECOWAS English speaking

countries (Gambia, Liberia, Sierra

Leone, Nigeria and Ghana), six

staff from the FAO country offic-

es and two officers from the Direc-

torate of Agriculture and Rural De-

velopment of ECOWAS Commis-

sion in Abuja, and two staff from

RAAF. Page 5

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

5

Agriculture officials in the ECOWAS region share knowledge on the formula-

tion of agriculture investment projects

In his official opening remarks on

behalf of the Sierra Leone’s Minis-

ter of Agriculture, Forestry and

Food Security, the National Pro-

gramme Coordinator in the Strate-

gic Advisory Unit of the Ministry of

Agriculture, Forestry and Food Se-

curity, Khalil Jah noted that the

regional training fully and timely

falls within the approach and the

perspective of the region that is to

mobilize enough resources for the

implementation of the ECOWAP

2025 at both regional and country

level.

Mr Jah reminded participants that

the development of the second gen-

eration of the National Agriculture,

Food Security and Nutrition Invest-

ment Plan (NAIP FSN) is in pro-

gress and shall be completed by

June 2017 and ready for validation

in all ECOWAS Member States.

“For their implementation, re-

source mobilization is key. That is

why this regional training is very

important for achieving the objec-

tives we set to ourselves in the

framework of ECOWAP 2025”, he

added.

The FAO Representative to Sierra

Leone, Nyabenyi Tipo stated that

FAO leads actions at both national

and regional levels to build the ca-

pacity of all key actors involved in

the improvement of food and nutri-

tion security in West Africa.

“I am convinced that agricultural

investment projects resulting from

the National Agriculture, Food Se-

curity and Nutrition Investment

Plan (NAIP FSN) will be the main

tool for resource mobilization and

for concrete outcomes for the ECO-

WAS population”, she maintained.

She pledged that FAO will continue

to work for accelerating their for-

mulation and improving quality for

every country to meet the Malabo

declaration targets streamlined in

ECOWAP 2025 strategic frame-

work.

The Head of the Technical Unit for

the Regional Agency for Agriculture

and Food (RAAF), Dr Ablasse Bilgo

representing the Executive Director

of RAAF, explained that, this train-

ing will increase the capacity of the

ECOWAS member states for the

formulation of investment projects

to mobilize funds for the second

generation of ECOWAP.

“Since 2015, RAAF has contributed

to capacity building of the minis-

tries in charge of agriculture in the

15 countries of ECOWAS. So far,

over 450 persons have been trained

on climate smart agriculture project

formulation, and 300 persons on

social safety nets”, he added.

The training is conducted on theo-

retical and practical approaches on

the costing of agricultural invest-

ment projects with a Focus on COS-

TAB 32 Software developed by the

Asian Development Bank.

Similar training sessions have al-

ready been delivered in Abidjan,

Côte d'Ivoire, for the representa-

tives of the ECOWAS French speak-

ing member countries, and the final

one will be held in Niamey, Niger

early April 2017 for the experts from

regional organizations and Stake-

holders involved in the implementa-

tion of ECOWAP 2025.

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

6

Stakeholders discuss the implementation of the

Sierra Leone Community Based Forestry Concept

The CBF Concept is in line with

FAO’s Strategic Objective three

– Reduce rural poverty –

aimed at helping the rural poor

gain access to the resources

and services they need, includ-

ing rural employment and so-

cial protection, to forge a path

out of poverty. This Concept is

well embedded in the national

forest policy 2010 and is sup-

ported by the current forestry

bill under discussion.

Community Based Forestry Con-

cept is expected to play an im-

portant role in increasing incomes

for the rural poor, improving for-

est protection, and landscape res-

toration, while at the same time

empowering local people.

According to the FAO Forestry

Consultant, Muhammed Jaiteh,

the country has a total forest area

of 6,305,800 hectares, but shifting

cultivation, illegal logging, wood

energy demand, unsustainable

exploitation of NWFPs, uncon-

trolled wild bushfires, mining of

minerals and stones, and poor prac-

tices of livestock production and

management are the major threats

to sustainable forest management in

Sierra Leone.

Presenting the Review of 40 years

of community-based forestry, Ex-

tent and effectiveness, the Head of

Social Forestry in FAO, Dominique

Reeb, explained that, secure tenure,

enabling regulatory framework,

strong governance, viable technolo-

gy, adequate market knowledge

and supportive bureaucracy are the

major conditions required for effec-

tive Community Based Forestry.

FAO has been supporting the devel-

opment of a CBF Concept as a foun-

dation for strengthening forest ten-

ure rights in order to generate

meaningful social, economic and

environmental benefits from sus-

tainable forest management.

The project’s primary stakeholders

are the local communities living in

or adjacent to forest resources, or

are involved in managing forests on

their smallholdings. Particular at-

tention will be given to women and

youths who are heavily impacted by

unsustainable practices, and to the

local chiefs involved in decision

making.

While FAO will take lead in provid-

ing technical guidance and advice,

the implementation of the project

will be the responsibility of MAFFS’

forestry department staff at nation-

al and decentralized levels. The

results of the project will therefore

enable the forestry department to

up-scale and replicate in other

parts of the country.

FAO strengthens collab-

oration with the aca-

demia to achieve food

security

The achievement of the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) by

2030, especially in the areas of food

security and poverty reduction, re-

quires strong and enhanced part-

nerships with different sections of

the society. The role of higher learn-

ing institutions are very key in

achieving these ambitious goals as

the majority of poor people in de-

veloping countries, including Sierra

Leone, live in rural areas and edu-

cation is a key factor in helping to

reduce the level of poverty.

The Assistant Director-General and

Regional Representative for Africa

of the Food and Agriculture Organi-

zation of the United Nations (FAO),

Bukar Tijani, recently engaged the

administration of the Njala Univer-

sity in Sierra Leone on ways to

strengthen collaboration to address

agriculture and food security issues.

Bukar Tijani visited the country on

the occasion of the 13th regional

meeting of the African Caribbean

Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU)

Joint Parliamentary Assembly for

West Africa and to launch the Re-

gional Overview of Food Security

and Nutrition in Africa 2016.

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

7

FAO strengthens collaboration with the academia to achieve food security

His discussion with the admin-

istration of the Njala University

bordered on engaging in research,

information and knowledge man-

agement, curriculum and project

development in line with emerg-

ing development priorities.

The Vice Chancellor and Principal

of Njala University, Professor

Ernest Ndomahina, welcomed

FAO support to the institution

over the years. He outlined key

progress made by the institution

in the areas of teaching, research

and community service.

He, however, stated that the uni-

versity is challenged with re-

sources to properly undertake

research activities, develop cur-

riculum and sustain the imple-

mentation of community develop-

ment projects. The university

needs to investigate the causes of

low yield in rice production in

recent times in the country, sus-

tain the implementation of its

aquaculture project, develop

more curriculum, especially a

veterinary school, and facilitate

the access to recent publications

and other learning materials.

Bukar Tijani encouraged the Uni-

versity to collaborate with the

rural farmers, members of the

Agribusiness Centres (ABCs) to

improve their productivity and

practical teaching. “The ABC sys-

tem can be a role model on agri-

business and one-stop shop.

Training modules can be replicat-

ed in other parts of Africa”, he

advised.

“FAO has a repository of publica-

tions – online and hardcopies –

that are very essential for higher

learning institutions, especially

Njala University, which is special-

ized in agriculture related-

courses”, he added.

The Deputy Minister of Agricul-

ture, Forestry and Food Security,

Lovell Thomas, lamented that

most of the agriculture graduates

have limited themselves to offices

and not the field, where there are

unlimited opportunities for them

to better test their knowledge and

service the communities.

“Agricultural researches should

not be limited in books and class-

rooms, but should be filtered in

the field”, he advised.

A concrete long-standing cooper-

ation

FAO has, over the years been

working with Njala University in

the areas of research, community

development and recently on cur-

riculum development. The Organi-

zation has, among other things

provided vehicle, motorbike and

other technical equipment in sup-

port of the University teaching

radio station, developed a curricu-

lum on the Right-to-Food and Nu-

trition, trained lecturers and pro-

vided textbooks on nutrition.

The FAO high/level delegation

also visited some FAO project sites

and met with stakeholders in the

country’s food and nutrition secu-

rity sector. He stopped at the Gbo-

tima Agribusiness Business Centre

in Njala Town to launch a livestock

vaccination programme and assess

the facilities at the centre.

“It is one of the ABCs to which that

FAO has provided finances, to em-

bark on livestock rearing as an al-

ternative source of livelihood after

the Ebola disease outbreak, two

years ago. This support is being

provided with funds from the Swe-

dish International Development

Agency (SIDA) for post-Ebola dis-

ease recovery”, explained Tipo Ny-

abenyi, FAO Representative to Si-

erra Leone.

Also visited were operations and

facilities at the Serology and Mo-

nocular Biology Laboratory on

Njala campus, jointly supported by

an ECTAD project with funding

from the United States Agency for

International Development

(USAID) under the One Health

Initiative.

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

8

No assistance is too small to help a woman overcome inequality and raise to fame

She was just 17 when her parents

forced her to become a house wife.

A status she was not prepared to

attain and was not even yearning

to enroll into by then, but tradition

decided her fate. Even to date, she

detests the manner in which her

fate was decided. She however

turned out to be industrious, but

not satisfied because she is con-

vinced that her life and the society

she comes from would have been

better than it is today if many of

her peers would not have suffered

similar vices of inequality as a re-

sult of male chauvinism.

Haja Sundu Marrah, 56 was born

in Kabala Town, Koinadugu Dis-

trict, in the North of Sierra Leo-

ne.She was never opportune to

progress beyond primary school

because she hailed from a society

at a time its culture forbade west-

ern education for girls. During that

period, her society perceived wom-

en’s role to be purely domestic du-

ties and a submissive one to men.

Therefore, educating a girl was

perceived to be a torn on the flesh

for men.

Throughout her childhood, she was

exposed to varieties of domestic

work which was aimed at prepar-

ing her to be a better house wife.

“My responsibilities included cook-

ing, laundering and different forms

of housekeeping that made me

looked like a co-wife to my moth-

er”, she recounted.

Victim of the unquestionable

powers of men as breadwin-

ners

Haja Sundu was married to a man

she never really knew before; she

desperately wanted to continue her

schooling, instead she was given

the ultimatum to choose from a

number of suitors or be given

away to anyone.

She eventually got married to the

most suitable one; but the path

she really wanted to follow, no

one ever cared.

“My step-mother coerced me to

choose from among the suit-

ors. She told me that it was a

command from my father and I

should be ready to suffer his

wrath and curse if I refused”, she

lamented.

She wedded to a man who already

had two wives and children, and

an extended family of relatives,

dependents and apprentices. Ac-

cording to her, she never enjoyed

her privacy and peace of mind as a

wife. Being a third wife, and from

a different clan/tribe, she was

constantly being targeted and antagonized by her co-wives,

©FAO/Keifa Jaward

9

and taunted for not having kids of

her own during the early years of

her marriage. “We were

all living in one compound and

there were constant confrontations

over basic utilities like the water-

well or kitchen. I could only test

the comfort and peace of a home

when my husband built another

house years later where I stayed,

away from the other wives” she

added.

Her husband was short lived, he

died at the height of the country’s

civil war; she was left with the

tough choice of caring for her own

kids only, or an extended family

she inherited from her husband

during what was arguably the

toughest period in the country. She

chose the latter and had to sudden-

ly transition from a housewife to

head and breadwinner of the fami-

ly. According to Haja Sundu, the

survival and nurturing of all the

children and dependents was pure-

ly her responsibility with little sup-

port from her husband’s family,

and culturally, she was obliged to

sometimes provide for the late

husband’s family in order to can-

vass their blessings for the children

to have a bright future.

Overcoming multiple chal-

lenges through FAO’s support

Amidst the odds, she was some-

body that was too passionate about

farming. She engaged in backyard

gardening, and according to her,

the yield was so helpful in reducing

her spending on locally grown veg-

etables, and sometimes even sold

the yield to buy other basic needs

for the home.

It was during that period, in 1985

that one-time District Agriculture

Officer (DAO) identified her and

encouraged her husband to allow

her join a farming group that was

initiated by the Food and Agricul-

ture Organization of the United

Nations (FAO). “I was so happy

when the DAO told me that my

husband has accepted for me to

join the farming group because my

condition then as a house wife was

very boring and unproductive”, she

said. They were taught basic agro-

nomic practices, cooperative man-

agement, marketing, financial

management, leadership and other

management skills.

Her venture into farming, together

with other women in the district

became more productive and

hopeful when FAO grouped them

into cooperatives in 1994, provided

starter kits for them and linked

them to markets. When her hus-

band died, she turned completely

to farming as the sole means to

care for and educate her children,

the children of her co-wives and

other dependents of the extended

family. Since then, farming for

business became very profitable

for her and attractive to many in

the district and the membership of

the cooperative increased.

Realizing the supportive role

of woman and better partner

in development

From being subordinate to a man

and antagonized by other women

as a result of cultural design, Haja

Sundu gradually became a sup-

portive partner to the development

of the home and later the main

driver; a community leader and to

her present state, a role model, an

advocate for women empowerment

and gender equity.

Before her husband died, she had

become a confidant to him as she

most times supported him in up

keeping the home. Through the

proceeds from her vegetable farm-

ing, she built her first house in

2003, which elevated her to a

landlady.

She had just given birth to her

fifth child when her husband died.

Though it was shocking and left

her with more responsibilities, it

was not difficult for her to cope

economically as she was already in

intensive farming with satisfactory

proceeds that enabled her to sup-

port the children. “Sometimes I

cried quietly whenever I imagine

what would have been the future

of my children if I was just reliant

on my husband”, she lamented.

Today, she describes herself as

being successful because she was

able to educate her five children

together with the children of her

co-wives, and now extending as-

sistance to other children includ-

ing orphans.

A rural woman becomes a key

agent of change

Apart from supporting her house-

hold, Haja Sundu has over the

years become a celebrated farmer

and an agent of change in her dis-

trict and beyond. Her leadership

career started in 1998 as the

Chairlady of the Yataya Communi-

ty Women’s Cooperative which

comprised 25 members, and now

the Chairlady of the Koinadugu

Vegetable Women Farmer’s Coop-

erative, since 2002.

She has over the years encouraged

more men to allow their wives and

out-of-school girls to join the co-

operative and become self-reliant.

From a membership of 150 in six

groups in 2002, the Koinadugu

Women Vegetable Farmer’s Coop-

erative now has 750 members, and

more women are yearning to join

the cooperative because of the

progress they see in the lives of

the current members.

10

“I can tell you that over 70 per cent of our membership

are landladies and breadwinners in their homes”,

she boasted.

In terms of exposure and recognition, FAO has sup-

ported her and other women farmers to travel and in-

teract with their peers in several countries in Africa,

Europe and Asia to take part in trainings and

knowledge sharing forums which have greatly enabled

them to increase their production with value addition.

In the years 2002, 2005 and 2008, she was awarded

the best female farmer in the district.

In 2010, she won an award that was presented to her

by His Excellency the President as the Best Female

Farmer in the country. Her Cooperative group has

won big tenders to supply rice to the World Food Pro-

gramme under the Purchase for Progress Programme.

The remarkable progress of the women farmers, espe-

cially in the Koinadugu District has enabled them to

own land, become members of district development

committees and now have traditional voting rights

which were never tolerated before.

Today, Haja Sundu Marrah is a consultant to many

non-governmental organizations in preaching women

empowerment and motivating other women through

experience sharing.

She acknowledged that she has achieved enough to

retire from farming, but her passion for supporting

other women cannot allowed her to retire now as she

currently procures high quality seeds internationally

and supply other farmers on cost recovery.

She dedicates her celebration of the International

Women’s Day and her achievement to FAO for provid-

ing her the opportunity to discover her potential.

As International Women's Day is a time to reflect on

progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts

of courage and determination by ordinary women and

girls who have played an extraordinary role in the his-

tory of their countries and communities, Haja Sundu

Marrah’s story is one of many rural women that FAO

has empowered to become an agent in reducing hun-

ger, malnutrition, poverty, inequality and violence

against women.

The celebration of the International Women’s Day

brings her extreme joy to seeing that women’s right

are being advocated and seemingly recognized in some

sections of the society today.

Her desire is to see a world that is totally free from

violence against women and been accorded equal op-

portunities without favor or abuse.

As a farmer, she is appealing to government and other

development partners to provide the enabling environ-

ment for rural women farmers in the country to in-

crease their yields, particularly a better platform to

market their products especially that vegetables are

perishable commodities.

She strongly believes that if they are given the oppor-

tunity, rural women farmers can greatly contribute to

end hunger and malnutrition.

Contact:

Nyabenyi Tito Tipo

FAO Representative in Sierra Leone

Nyabenyi.Tipo@fao.org

Keifa Jaward

Communications Consultant

Keifa.Jaward@fao.org

Thanks for reading

the FAO Sierra Leone

Quarterly Newsletter

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Sierra Leone

11 Jalloh Terrace, Aberdeen, Freetown, Tel: (+232) 78 798656,

Email: fao-sl@fao.org, www.fao.org/sierraleone

© FAO 2017 I7225EN/1/05.17