SOBBA

Poverty and its relationship to Food Security in Sierra Leone

 

Poverty and food insecurity are major issues of concern in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone in the last 20 years has been ranked within the 10 least developed and poor nations in the United Nations Human Development index. UNICEF reported last year that about 34% of the population is physically stunted due to malnutrition. The 2002 poverty profile estimated about 75% of the population lived in poverty and more than 66% of the poor lived in conditions of extreme poverty (PRSP, 2004).

 

Poverty is, generally, a rural phenomenon and incidence of poverty is highest among farmers.  It is estimated that the poverty rate in the rural populace is over 70% and the communities in which SOBBA operates are included in this demographic.The economy of Sierra Leone is predominantly agrarian and the agricultural sector contributed about 51.9% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2002 while industry and service sectors share in GDP was 31.1% and 17.0% respectively.  The agricultural sector employs about 70% of the working population. Currently, the total population is 5.5 million and is expected to increase by 15% to 6.3 million by 2014. Chronic malnutrition prevails in situations of low productivity due to poor policies and strategies, poor feeding and care practices and inadequate water and sanitation facilities. There is high level of dependency on subsistence farming and the absence of agricultural support organisations  has also contribute to the persistence of high levels of poverty in most regions in the country. Most farmers and family farm operations are done on less than 3 acres, off which the yields are basically divided into three main purposes;

 

• Consumption purposes- Either for direct consumption or for sale/trade/exchange for other staple or complimentary foods

• Finance/debt negotiation purposes- Used to pay-off debts, land leases and to serve as a medium of finance during the drought/non-planting season

• Planting Material-Seeds for the next year’s production

 

To combat this problem, farmers and their communities should be provided with the resources to enable them to transform their subsistence farming operations into a business that will help them earn valuable income. Seeds and cuttings (although are a valuable first step in helping them attain this goal) farmers should be provided with busienss management skills, cutting edge technology to help not only increase their yield but to predict unfavourable weather patterms, crop diseases and froces that willl deteermine fair market prices of their crops.

 

SOBBA has being actively engaged in helping to bridge this anomaly of the use of non-viable seeds and obsolete farming practices. Robust highly nutritious seeds in the hands of farmers is as important as polished diamonds in the hands of the Jeweler. The trickle down effect of the farmer being able to be financially stable has proven to be the most effective means of lifting a nation out of poverty. 

 

The math as is provided in the population data is proven: 70% lf all of the labour force (majority of which are poor kleaving on less that $2 a day are engaged in farming.