Sierra Leone’s economy is strongly reliant on the agricultural sector as it contributed 47.9 percent to GDP in 2014. It is also one of the largest sources of job creation employing 68.5 percent in 2014. With an estimated 5.4million hectares of arable land, abundant farmland, varied ecosystem, fertile soil, and sufficient rainfall is a mainstay to agricultural success over the years. The government is investing heavily in the sector by improving transport infrastructure to ease the movement of goods, encouraging and supporting private sector investment, as well as lending support to farmers. With declining international commodity prices, especially in iron ore which was one of the country’s main export, agriculture is one of the diversified sectors the government is focusing its growth potential.
The sector is dominated by smallholder farmers, in subsistence farming, using traditional methods and limited use of farming inputs. There are fairly large agricultural estates, both government and privately owned. The current performance of agriculture represents a fraction of the underlying potential of the country.
