The Agriculture Value Chain Development Project (AVDP) has concluded a two-day Strategic Retreat to discuss the current status of the project implementation, strengthen donor relationship and map out a way forward in ensuring project effectiveness.

The session took place over the week at the Atlantic hotel in Freetown where officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), Ministry of Finance, other major stakeholders including the project beneficiary farmers as well as the AVDP staff underscored the importance of the project in boosting the agricultural sector especially in supporting a major flagship programme of the government, the ‘Feed Salon’ initiative.

The key objective of the stakeholders meeting was to develop a clear operational road map that will guide the AVDP in achieving its overall objective of supporting 43,000 household farmers and over 250,000 people to attain food self-sufficiency, income generation and poverty reduction over a six years period.

As part of a loan and grant agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and the main donor, IFAD, the AVDP emerged in late 2019 as the biggest portfolio in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to address rice, oil palm, cocoa and vegetable value chains in all the four regions of the country. But almost four years into actual implementation, this high-level engagement was constituted for all the major stakeholders to review key implementation issues, achievements, bottlenecks and project financing arrangement.

Following series of critical discussions and presentations by the various partners, it was unanimously resolved that the AVDP should proceed with its implementation arrangement with a particular focus on improving the agribusiness sector and infrastructure components where feeder roads, culverts and bridges, market and storage facilities etc so that farmers will be provided with market access after production or cultivation. The project lifespan is also expected to be extended for an additional two years before its closure in 2027.