Smallholder Commercialisation Programme - Investment Plan.

The Smallholder Commercialisation Programme - Investment Plan is a sectoral national programme of Sierra Leone. Its main goal is to reduce rural poverty and household food insecurity on a sustainable basis, and to strengthen the national economy.
The Programme, among others, contains objectives relating to food security. Namely, it promotes national growth and development with equity by reducing households’ vulnerability to shocks and disaster, increasing food security and nutrition levels of vulnerable households, with a focus on children, promoting human capital potential, and improving livelihoods. Increasing incomes and food security of the vulnerable poor will be achieved through a triangle of interventions focused on: providing safety nets and employment opportunities for food insecure households while contributing to productive asset creation; protecting the health and nutrition of pregnant and lactating women and children of food insecure vulnerable households while promoting early education; and strengthening national capacity in disaster early warning and disaster/risk response mainly through ensuring adequate buffer stocks stored at district levels. In addition, it aims to develop appropriate small scale irrigation infrastructure in order to boost rice production, a major staple in the country. According to it, results expected from small scale irrigation development would substantially contribute to increased food security, the generation of marketable surplus for lowland smallholders and their insertion in national agricultural trade, as well as creation of wealth and employment for youth.
The document also envisages pro-poor policies. Among these policies, it provides for smallholder commercialization: production intensification, diversification, value addition and marketing. The objective of this component is to promote commercialization of smallholder agriculture through increasing productivity, value addition, and marketing with emphasis on commodity chain development and institutional strengthening of farmer-based organizations. This measure will include services such as extension, improving productivity, intensification, post-harvest practices and marketing skills.
The Programme also treats a series of issues for enabling more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. For instance, it notes that post-harvest interventions must be improved to increase value-added, agro-processing activities and also reduce post-harvest losses through improved storage facilities. Further, under the Programme, it is planned to develop Agricultural Business Centers whose services will include, among others: access to input supplies; technical support to processing/value addition and post-harvest storage; promoting marketing including market information systems; enhancing linkages to micro-finance, communications. Capacity will be developed in several areas, e.g. organization and management, business and financial management and planning, machine operations, shop keeping, partnerships, etc. Additionally, rural financial services will also be provided. According to the document, rural financial services are essential investments contributing to the commercialization of the agricultural value chain including the establishment of rural-based micro and small enterprises. Lastly, the Programme also includes policies regarding market access expansion through feeder road rehabilitation. The objective of this component is to improve the ability of smallholders, market-oriented farmers and agri-businesses to physically access markets and operate in a profitable way through the rehabilitation and effective maintenance of priority feeder roads.
The Programme also covers the issue of disaster management providing policies mainly with regard to food security. In this segment, it aims to strengthen national capacity to adequately respond to disasters by improving risk assessments and early warning systems and reinforcing risk preparedness at district levels through establishment of grain storage banks. An assessment will be undertaken to design a national storage program and infrastructures will be planned, with focus on placement of facilities, reserve stocks, management and operations.
Implementation of this Programme will be through the existing Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security structure with linkages to ongoing activities. Monitoring will be based on principles of results-based management, with focus on efficiency and effectiveness of resource use while the evaluation will lay emphasis on achieving targets, assessing outcomes and long-term impact of the programme on national development and equitable distribution of growth.