The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Henry Musa Kpaka, has concluded a four-day regional field tour of Sierra Leone’s south-eastern region, aimed at assessing progress under the Feed Salone initiative and engaging stakeholders on the government’s 2026 priorities, described as a “Year of Action”.
The tour, which involved technical officials and project staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, was intended to update stakeholders, development partners and the public on ongoing interventions designed to transform the agricultural sector.
Dr Kpaka began the tour at Njala University, where he inspected the newly established Incubation Centre at the Njala School of Agriculture. The facility is expected to provide hands-on practical training for students, host capacity-building programmes and serve as a hub for public and private sector actors interested in agricultural innovation. According to the Minister, the centre will also support student start-ups, particularly in aquaculture and poultry production.
On the second day, the Minister travelled to Tormabum in Bonthe District, where he assessed the construction of modern irrigation systems and visited a functional rice milling facility capable of processing locally produced rice to standards comparable with imported brands.
In Bo City, Dr Kpaka launched a training programme aimed at supporting farmers to transition from subsistence farming to commercially viable enterprises. Following the training, the delegation visited the 64-metric-ton-per-day rice processing cluster at Gbondapi in Pujehun District. The Minister commended the construction company for what he described as “speed and professionalism”, noting that the facility would soon be operational and ready to serve farmers. The rice cluster is being implemented under the Sierra Leone Rice Agro-Industrial Cluster Project (SL-RAIC).
Dr Kpaka said the government’s focus for 2026 would be on delivering tangible results, building on the foundations laid during the first two years of the Feed Salone initiative. “A year of action means consolidating progress and ensuring that outcomes directly improve the lives of Sierra Leoneans,” he said.
As part of efforts to strengthen the cocoa sector, the Minister engaged cocoa stakeholders in Kenema on policy reforms aimed at maximising value across the cocoa value chain. Stakeholders provided recommendations for the effective implementation of the cocoa policy. In response, Dr Kpaka assured participants that the government, through the Feed Salone agenda, was committed to revitalising the sector, noting that cocoa remains one of the country’s most important cash crops and a key contributor to national GDP.
The tour concluded with a visit to a poultry farm in Newton, where the Minister highlighted plans to operationalise the “one egg per child” policy in 2026. The initiative is expected to support local poultry farmers to scale up production, create jobs, address malnutrition and increase incomes.
Dr Kpaka called on all stakeholders to work collectively towards transforming agriculture in Sierra Leone. “By growing and feeding ourselves, we restore dignity, pride and prosperity,” he said, adding that achieving this goal would require shared responsibility across the sector.
