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Improved food security planning set for Sierra Leone

17 October 2012, Rome - FAO will provide Sierra Leone with technical assistance to improve the country's capacity to anticipate, plan for and respond to food security and nutrition threats under a two-year project signed here today.

The project will focus on development of information network systems and human resources to facilitate food security planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

FAO's contribution will include the establishment of an early warning system for agriculture and food and nutrition security, with the systematic collection, organization, management, analysis and dissemination of food security data and information.

It will also help strengthen human and institutional capacity for disaster response, including improved management of food security stocks.  

Localized disasters

Sierra Leone is regularly affected by localized disasters such as drought, floods, insect attacks, landslides, bush fires and livestock diseases leading to food insecurity and malnutrition. According to FAO's latest figures, undernourishment in the country has decreased significantly over the past two decades but nearly 30 percent of the population were undernourished in 2010-2012.

The $500,000 project will be coordinated by the Planning Evaluation Monitoring and Statistics Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and executed by the Agriculture Ministry.

It is expected that the system once in operation, will provide timely information to plan and implement priority policies and programmes for the achievement of the country's Poverty Reduction and Food Security Strategy objectives.

The project was signed on behalf of Sierra Leone by The Honourable Joseph Sam Sesay, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and by Director-General José Graziano da Silva for FAO.