Helping rural family farms in Sierra Leone earn income
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$11,330
A pilot regenerative farming project in Sierra Leone, supporting rural farmers to transition from subsistence to sustainable, income-generating agriculture.
- Region 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
- Sector Agriculture
- Stage Pilot
This work began with a simple question: What would it take for small farmers in Sierra Leone to grow more than just enough to survive?
In the rural district of Marampa, where communities rely almost entirely on small-scale agriculture, most farmers are limited by poor soil, lack of tools, and little access to market support. Many farm the same crops year after year, depleting the soil while struggling to feed their families.
In partnership with Reseed, this project pilots a new model—one rooted in sustainable growth and community ownership. Mohammed Conteh, the lead agricultural officer, will work closely with 30 farms across six villages, supplying tailored seed kits, farming tools, and one-on-one support to help diversify and strengthen yields. Farmers will collaborate to share labour during planting and harvesting, establishing habits of mutual support and knowledge sharing.
Later phases include composting workshops and community seed banks, which deepen soil health and enable long-term planning.
Why this matters
Sierra Leone ranks 184 out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index. Two-thirds of its people live in poverty. While urban areas see concentrated aid and infrastructure, rural communities remain under-resourced and highly vulnerable to economic and climate shocks.
Years of conflict, the 2019 pandemic, and recent inflation have only deepened this inequality. Rural families in Marampa face some of the most challenging conditions: depleted soil, erratic weather, and limited to no agricultural support.
This project is designed to change that from the ground up—helping farmers grow more, earn more, and plan ahead.
Technical stuff
The Details
- Salaries (1 year) £2,100
- Seeds & Tools £3,100
- Compost training £1,534
- Seedling nurseries and storage £1,579
- Farmers enrolled 220
- Seeds distributed 300
- Composting workshops delivered 0
- Community seed banks established 0
Updates
From the field
Field visit conducted in Makindo community
Posted 18 Jun 2025
Here are photos from my field visits to the Makindo community.
Field visit snapshots from Rochain and Makel communities
Posted 13 Jun 2025
Here are photos from my field visits to the Rochain and Makel communities.
Crop monitoring and rice pre-nursery training
Posted 11 Jun 2025
Training beneficiaries on when to weed there crops and on the pre nursery of their swamp rice and field monitoring on their crops.
Pre-planting training and crop care support in Kalangba
Posted 9 Jun 2025
Spent the day in Kalangba supporting pre-planting activities and checking in on farms. Trained beneficiaries on caring for groundnuts during the flowering phase and showed them how to earth up pepper plants to boost their yield. Pepper plants are starting to produce, and the cassava fields are coming along well too.
Field Monitoring in Mapoli Community
Posted 24 Feb 2025
Here are photos of my field monitoring day in the Mapoli community.
Field Monitoring Visit to the Makel & Rochain communities
Posted 21 Feb 2025
Here are photos from my field monitoring at Makel and Rochain communities.
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Farmer Mamasu begins prepping land for mixed farming
Posted 19 Feb 2025
Here’s Mamasu, one of the farmers in the agricultural program:
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Once the land is prepared, she will begin mix farming with rice being the main farm crop.
First crops emerge at Makel Village farm
Posted 2 Jan 2025
We have our first signs of food growing in one of the farms in Makel Village - Cucumber!
First field monitoring visit completed across project farms
Posted 9 Dec 2024
Last week, I visited all the farms to check on the crop's progress and do field monitoring.
First harvest of nutrient dense potatoes underway
Posted 3 Dec 2024
I visited Aishatu's farm today, where she's growing improved varieties of potato with denser nutrition for the first time. The crops are developing well according to plan.
First potato sprouts emerge
Posted 15 Nov 2024
The first crops are beginning to sprout ... potatoes!
Pictured here is a photograph of the early sprouts.:quality(85))
Seed distribution faces transport setback
Posted 30 Oct 2024
We're on day two of the seed distribution. Unfortunately, we've hit a roadblock as the transport vehicle got stuck whilst transporting the seed crops. We're working to resolve this issue and resume distribution as quickly as possible.
Seed crops distribution begins
Posted 29 Oct 2024
We started distributing seed crops today and aim to finish by tomorrow to ensure all partner farmers receive them on time. I’ve attached photographs of the day, including some of the partner farmers.
Community visits and beneficiary selection completed in Kalangba
Posted 26 Oct 2024
I'm happy to inform you all that I concluded the community visits and beneficiary selection yesterday.
Today, I'm in the field doing registrations and engaging the farms in land preparation, starting first in the Kalangba community.
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Programme expansion includes presentations to Kalangba and Mafera villages
Posted 21 Oct 2024
We've extended the presentations, mapping, and scope to include more communities and have since visited and walked them through the programme. The communities were Kalangba village and Mafera village.
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