Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (AVDP) reinforces the need for farmers to farm for business and the country should be able to eat what it grows.

That is why the project has supplied improved variety of high yielding cocoa seeds to 7,500 individual farmers in the East and South part of Sierra Leone which east is considered a major cocoa belt area in the country. Each of the beneficiaries will own a hectare of land where 1,225 seedlings will be nursed and transplanted to their permanent sites.

The Government of Sierra Leone and IFAD funded AVDP is ensuring that smallholder farmers are able to increase their income and livelihoods by supporting them to grow and increase cocoa and oil palm production and productivity.

Unlike the traditional cocoa which takes up to five to six years, this improved variety cocoa will be harvested after 3 years of cultivation. The transplanting of the cocoa seedlings is underway in April 2022 while the farmers are currently on sites preparation for the transplanting to their permanent farms.

Generally, farmers in Sierra Leone encounter many challenges including the lack of resources to pay for labour, new technologies and improved varieties to boost their farming activities.  

Therefore, the AVDP is here to support the farmers in changing that narrative for farming to become a profitable business that is done in a climate friendly atmosphere. The project focuses on four main value chains (Rice, Cocoa, Oil Palm and vegetable), and the project is directly supporting farmers to increase the production of these related crops.