SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa
SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa
SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa
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3 The Agricultural Sector<br />
60<br />
Figure 17. Average consumption of fertilizers (kg per hectare)<br />
NB: Fertilizer Consumption (Nitrogen, Potash and Phosphate) in kg / Number of hectares of arable land and permanent crops.<br />
Source: FAOSTAT (2011).<br />
farmers have to go into Freetown to buy imported<br />
agrochemicals. Figure 17 illustrates the low<br />
fertilizer consumption level per hectare in Sierra<br />
Leone in comparison with selected countries in<br />
West Africa for the year 2002 shortly after the civil<br />
conflict ended. Under this scenario, Sierra Leone<br />
portrayed the lowest level.<br />
Seeds and planting materials are the most<br />
important input for most farmers, and discussions<br />
show that the unavailability of planting materials at<br />
the right time is the single most frequent complaint<br />
that farmers have (Sesay et al, 2004). The seed<br />
market in Sierra Leone comprises of a formal and<br />
non-formal sector. There are several supply channels<br />
identified in the 2003/04 Sierra Leone Household<br />
Integrated Survey. Table 13 illustrates the importance<br />
of the access to seeds through the private sector<br />
(73.1%) while the access to seeds via aid (i.e. NGO’s)<br />
represents a very minor proportion (1.2%). Access<br />
through governmental services (0.7%) is usually<br />
provided on a cost recovery basis (GoSL, 2005b). The<br />
category under “other” (24.4%) comprises access to<br />
seeds through own stock, exchanges, etc. (ibid).<br />
Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has<br />
established a Seed Multiplication Project with<br />
assistance from German Technical Cooperation<br />
(GTZ) and a number of donors are supporting<br />
NGO intervention in input markets, in particular<br />
with seed provision, as part of the rehabilitation<br />
effort. Government has been supplying planting<br />
materials at low or, effectively, no price since<br />
the war, as have many NGOs. The challenge is<br />
to phase out free distribution and move towards<br />
local commercial markets for planting materials to<br />
encourage farmers to produce at community level,<br />
and increase the interest of the private sector.