Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, the Vice President of Sierra Leone, has on Thursday 12th September, 2024, launched a development pillar known as Strengthening Resilience in Food Systems Transformation at  Bintumani Hotel Conference Centre, Aberdeen in Freetown.

In his keynote address, Vice President Jalloh emphasized on the need for coordination and the building of connection among various stakeholders, noting the vital role of Ministries/Departments/Agencies (MDAs), development partners, and civil society.

He reechoed the need for coordination in order to achieve the aspiration of transforming the idea of food systems in the country, adding that coordination is the most important and critical element in promoting food systems campaign in Sierra Leone. He also stressed that the only way to work using a systemic approach is to make sure that the idea functions as a whole through coordination.

He informed participants about Sierra Leone overwhelming dependency on food importation, noting that food importation contributes a significant portion of the country total imports especially rice. He said the dependence on food importation is affecting the cost of living and domestic food production.

The Honourable Vice President revealed that poor rural households are more likely to suffer from food insecurity, particularly people in far-remote areas like Falaba which is marked with rough road network. He said the reality is that road network affects food systems through the progressive increase in the prices of food commodities.

Dr Jalloh stated that transforming food system is not just a priority but an imperative for the Government of President Bio to fulfill. He revealed that the focus of the “Feed Salone” initiative is to increase agricultural productivity and economic growth, thus reducing the country’s relianceon food import, while placing nutrition and food security at the center of Sierra Leone healthcare delivery indicator.

He expressed optimism for the achievement of food system sustainability and stressed on the need to strengthen food security.

Vice President Juldeh Jalloh said that the “Feed Salone” programme is going to provide multiple opportunities to build transformative food systems in the country, thus further revealing the increase allocation of budget from two (2%) percent to seven (7%) in the agriculture sector.

He also talked of the significance to increase local food production like onions, and the progressive reduction in food importation especially rice by 33%. He described the progressive reduction in food importation as one of the objectives of the “Feed Salone” initiative of the government, noting that government will do more with the scaling up of food production activities.

Vice President Jalloh said the important value of the workshop was on food systems to supporting food production and utilization in the context of scaling up production to become climate sensitive. He buttressed the need to transition from utility to productivity energy in order to support and scale up production, transform food system, and ensure that the production line is climate sensitive.

He called for the investment in renewable energy and transition the country to a low carbon energy source in order to produce greenhouse gas emission and build a climate resilience and sustainable energy sector.

Vice President Jalloh identified climate change impact as a challenge that affects food systems. He explained that the establishment of the Environment Ministry by President Bio is a demonstration of commitment to address environmental issues, and lauded the Minister of Environment for his strides in supporting water management.

He referred to private sector investment as an important component to scale production. He called for the expansion of capital or loan agreement with a limited interest rate for private sector investment in local food production. Dr Jalloh emphasized on the need to support road network so as to enable farmers access to market and sell their goods. He disclosed the construction of roads that lead to remote areas as a priority of the government with the aim of addressing the challenges of market access and storage.

Vice President Jalloh thanked the Minister of Agriculture for his fantastic outflows by showcasing the country and actualizing a pledge of one hundred and one million United States Dollars as a commitment towards President Julius Maada Bio “Feed Salone” programme in Kigali.

He stated that the workshop is of great interest to the Government of Sierra Leone, particularly as Government is implementing the multi-sectoral policies and programmes to improve food security. Vice President Jalloh defined food system as all inputs, processes and infrastructure involved in feeding and nourishing a population. He further explained that food system involved production, alleviation, processing, marketing, and consumption like the energy required for the production of rice.

Dr Henry Musa Kpaka, Sierra Leone Minister of Agriculture and Food Security informed about making the “feed Salone” initiative different from just food production to improving the knowledge base of children. He identified poor road network, electricity as some of the things that are to be put place for the success of the food initiative. He disclosed that farmers can invest in agriculture if there are good roads in far farming communities, electricity and good irrigation.

By: Aaron Bundu Lahai-Head of Media & Public Relations