Date of RUAF intervention: 2005-ongoing

Introduction | Types of urban agriculture | MPAP | FSTT | Products | Contact

INTRODUCTION: CITY CONTEXT

Sierra Leone experienced a civil conflict between 1991 and 2002 as a result of which many persons fled to the Greater Freetown Area (GFA). During and after this unfortunate period, urban agriculture became an important livelihood strategy. It is increasingly being recognised as a reliable coping mechanism for redressing food shortages and gaining income and employment.

The Greater Freetown Area covers about 8,100 ha, and it is estimated that up to one quarter of the country’s population, around 1 million people, reside in Freetown. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world. GFA’s population increased by 65 per cent between 1985 and 2004 with more women than men, particularly in the active age group of 15 to 64 years (a similar gender pattern is observed in the labour force). Unemployment in GFA (about 52 per cent) is below the national average of 66 per cent, particularly among the youth. Net migration for GFA declined in 2004 (about 47 per cent).

Despite abundant natural resources and the favourable agricultural climate, the country’s economy went through a decline since the early 1980s, attributed to a variety of factors, foremost of which is the recently concluded decade-long civil war (1991-2002). More than 2 million people were displaced, and major activities, such as farming, mining, and forestry, were disrupted. Also, people flooded into Freetown. After the war, a significant number of persons displaced from the rural areas preferred to permanently stay in the city in the expectation of finding a job and better living conditions. The increased urban population created high demand for food and put high pressure on urban facilities and services.

Many urban poor, including migrants and internally displaced persons, and many youngsters and women, developed a keen interest in urban agriculture as an option for ensuring a food supply.  They took up the cultivation of leafy vegetables and, within and near Freetown, the processing and marketing thereof. This involved: packaging vegetables; preparing fast food; transport and retailing. These factors contributed to a significant expansion of urban and peri-urban agriculture as an essential coping strategy for providing a vital supply of food to the expanding urban population.

Urban agriculture is widespread in Freetown; agricultural activities have been identified in all eight administrative zones. Most agricultural activities are observed in the Western Area and Eastern Area of the city. Agriculture is also practiced widely in peri-urban areas, in combination with forestry activities on the verge of the peninsula forest and in larger plots towards the periphery of GFA.

^{Urban agricultural sites and number of farmers in Freetown}

TYPES OF URBAN AGRICULTURE

The most commonly cultivated crops are exotic vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, carrots, spring onions, tomatoes, beans, etc.) and local vegetable (potato leaves, spinach, cassava leaves, etc.) and different sorts of fruits. These are consumed on a daily basis and as perishables, cannot withstand long-haul transportation. They are usually harvested and sold at the market on the same day. Poultry (mainly free ranging) and pigs are the main types of animals raised. Processing and marketing are marginal activities, but these are also growing and are stimulated under present agricultural policies. Most urban producers sell large part of their produce in order to generate a basic income. Urban and peri-urban agriculture contributes substantially to the local economic development of Freetown and the country as a whole. In the situation analysis undertaken in 2007, it was estimated that urban agriculture provides full or part-time employment to over 1,800 people in urban Freetown. Women constitute approximately 80 per cent of the urban producers and they also do most of the marketing. Men provide assistance mainly in the preparation of land, such as initial land clearing, building the irrigation channels in the swampy areas, and supplying the money needed to buy inputs. A significant proportion of male urban producers are also engaged in other activities, such as working in the civil service or the artisan sector. A portion of the income generated from these other livelihood activities is often re-invested in the agricultural activities.

Urban agriculture is situated in private (e.g. residential) and public or institutional lands, often with complex land tenure arrangements. Most institutional lands are leased, while private and public open space lands are seasonally rented. Land is a primary constraint, agricultural land use being in competition with housing, commercial and industrial land uses. Use of external inputs, like fertilisers, is generally low, and animal manure (from piggeries and poultry units) is mainly applied. Rainwater, streams, pipe borne water, household wastewater and groundwater are common sources of water in crop and livestock activities. Apart from rainwater, most water sources are contaminated and polluted through human and animal excreta, as well as domestic and industrial effluents. A number of institutions, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS), the National Association of Farmers of Sierra Leone (NAFSL) and Freetown City Council (FCC) provide agricultural extension services (mainly on crops) to farmers. Almost all urban farmers belong to a farmers’ association or a community-based organisations, except those individuals who farm the backyards of their homes.

Next to land, another major constraint is pests and diseases. Thieves are also a problem. Further, the high price of seeds, shortage of water, animal feed, are constraints to urban farming. These constraints are less important as we move from the centre to the periphery of GFA, while marketing becomes more of a constraint for farmers located further away from the centre. Urban farmers in Freetown are often in competition with importers of vegetables and animal products hence they require capacity strengthening in critical aspects of urban agricultural production and marketing.

MULTI-STAKEHOLDER POLICYMAKING AND ACTION PLANNING (MPAP)

In 2006, RUAF partner IWMI launched the ‘Freetown Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Project’ (FUPAP) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with the goal to support city authorities in recognising the benefits of urban agriculture, while addressing its challenges in order to contribute to urban poverty reduction, food security and improved urban environmental management. The multi-faceted nature of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Freetown, and the many ongoing activities which are not inter-linked, called for a multi-stakeholder intervention.

The MPAP approach brought together major stakeholders in urban agriculture for joint situation analysis, decision-making, planning and implementation of related projects in Freetown. The FUPAP core team was constituted in 2006. MAFFS chaired FUPAP, and additional facilitation was provided by Njala University. Other institutions that participated in the FUPAP multi-stakeholder team were: FCC, NAFSL, the Department for Environmental health, the Commission for Environment and Forestry, Western Area (Rural) Council, Waterloo, LEXES, Care, World Vision and Ministry of Lands and Country Planning. Although initially part of the MPAP training, most NGOs did not participate actively in the MPAP process because they were more active in the rural provinces. Several of them joined FUPAP later again, when government and international donor attention for the process and urban agriculture grew.

The FUPAP team jointly implemented the situation analysis. The report on the situation analysis presented the presence and location of different types of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Freetown, profiled all institutional stakeholders and analysed the existing policies affecting urban agriculture. The main constraints identified in the situation analysis were: access to land and security on tenure, access to clean water for irrigation, inadequate and untimely supply of farm inputs, and limited agricultural extension services.

City Strategic Agenda
The Multi-stakeholder Forum on Urban Agriculture was established in 2006. During its first meeting the Forum discussed the findings of the situation analysis and discussed the desired development of urban agriculture in Freetown and agreed on a number of key issues for intervention.

During 2008 the FUPAP core team further developed these issues, which resulted in the Freetown City Strategic Agenda (CSA) on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture. The CSA analyses the various key policy issues for the development of sustainable urban agriculture and outlines the main strategies concerning each key issue. It also includes the main actors involved and responsible for each action and the actual or potential sources of funding.

As part of the design process, the FUPAP partners successfully implemented a pilot project on ‘value addition to urban and peri-urban products towards increased marketability’. Two communities in Congo Water and in Potor Levuma participated in this project and received basic farm inputs, such as tools, fertilisers, and seeds capacity building on IPM, post production techniques, safe handling of vegetables, and processing. Further, irrigation facilities were improved or installed, such as wells and treadle pumps.

The City Strategic Agenda for Freetown defines policy issues and strategies have been defined for seven specific areas:

• provision of adequate and reliable quality farmland for urban agriculture;
• promotion and public awareness on the contribution of urban agriculture to food security and sound environmental management;
• capacity building of farmers and farmers associations (both human and materials);
• availability of year round good quality irrigation water;
• value addition to products towards improving marketability;
• creation and regulation of guidelines and policies conducive for efficient, sustainable urban and peri-urban agriculture;
• strengthening extension services and M&E as a tool for efficient urban agriculture production.

The CSA was agreed by the MSF at a meeting in November 2008, and formally endorsed by the Deputy Mayor of Freetown in April 2009.

The Multi-stakeholder Forum, created during the FUPAP implementation, was institutionalised in 2009 as the Freetown Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Platform (FUPAP). The new FUPAP is chaired on a rotational basis by MAFFS, FCC and the new member, the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC). FCC and WARDC are the two local authorities in GFA. The three rotating chairs are also members of the FUPAP Steering committee, which took over the role of the FUPAP core team. Other members of this steering group are NAFSL, The Department of Agricultural research, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Ministry of Lands and Country Planning, Njala University, Youth organisations, like SLYO and the NGOs COOPI, Concern, Friends of the Earth and Heifer. The FUPAP meetings are organised every 3 months. A work plan has been agreed by FUPAP for the years 2009-2010. An inventory on access to land, both for GFA and Western Area is ongoing.

Results and outcomes
One of the principal outputs of the process was the agreed Five Year (2009-2013) Freetown City Strategic Agenda on Urban Agriculture. Several of the activities included in the CSA are actually under implementation with active support from national government and international donors. FUPAP had the merit of putting urban food production and marketing in and around Freetown, and its multiple impacts, on the agenda of local and national authorities and of international support organisations operating in Sierra Leone.

The Multi-stakeholder Forum on urban agriculture has played and continues to play an important role in the discussion of issues related to urban agriculture and the coordination of planning and implementation of actions to promote the development of safe and sustainable urban agriculture.

Partially as a consequence of this, the European Union decided to provide funding to address food security in and around Freetown and to implement important activities included in the City Strategic Agenda. A consortium made up of Italian NGO COOPI, ETC/RUAF, Sierra Leone National Association of Farmers and Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Organisation will, in coordination with other FUPAP members, implement the 4-year project (2009-2012) co-funded by the EU. The project aims to stimulate innovation in urban agriculture in GFA through support to urban subsistence farmers, emerging commercial producers and to youth interested in agricultural production, processing and marketing. A second grant was awarded by the European Commission to the Irish NGO Concern Worldwide and to the German NGO Welthunger Hilfe for similar activities that will be implemented in close cooperation with the project mentioned above and with the FUPAP.

Attention to youth involvement is very important in the development process of Sierra Leone, and urban agriculture has been recognised as a key way to provide employment for youth. Various stakeholders, coordinated under FUPAP, have started to work with groups of vulnerable youth on commercial agricultural activities in the city, including value chain analysis and business development, group strengthening and participatory life skills training ranging from communication, leadership and decision making to conflict management and literacy and numeracy.

As a consequence of these developments, the reconstituted FUPAP has expanded to include several other actors, mainly international and national NGOs, youth serving agencies and youth umbrellas and organisations operating in Freetown and in Western Area.

In the new ‘National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan’ and the ‘Sierra Leone Chapter of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Plan’ that was signed in September 2009, sustainable urban agriculture processing and marketing are seen as key activities in Freetown and GFA.

In addition there is interest from MAFFS and FAO to include urban agriculture as part of their strategy and to expand activities to secondary cities in Sierra Leone. This has resulted in the inclusion of urban agriculture and the MPAP approach in the national curriculum on Farmer Field Schools, which will be used to train MAFFS extension workers across the Country, starting in 2010.

The EU supported preparation of a new Freetown Master Development Plan paves the way for negotiating solutions to long standing constraints to urban farmers, like enhanced access to land and more security of land use, prevention of land, water and soil pollution by other urban uses and enabling the use of urban organic wastes as fertiliser in agriculture. 
The mapping of vacant urban spaces suitable for urban agriculture that was undertaken by FUPAP in Freetown as part of the situation analysis is currently expanded to the Western Area and linked to the current GIS land mapping undertaken by the Ministry of Land, which provides an opportunity to address the issue of integration of urban agriculture in the urban land zoning and the legal protection of urban agriculture sites. The FUPAP will assist in the further development of the Master plan in terms of seeking suitable areas and types of urban agriculture.

Njala University, a major agricultural training institution, and member of FUPAP, has incorporated urban and peri-urban agriculture into its curriculum. At Fourah Bay College, a research programme on urban agriculture is ongoing and the researchers have agreed to collaborate with Njala University and the relevant line ministries to promote the development of urban agriculture in Freetown.

Urban agriculture is now also seen as being fully part of the national development strategy and this opens several opportunities for urban farmers especially for small-scale enterprises run by unemployed youth and poor women engaged in value addition and marketing of agriculture produce including financing, technical support, research and extension services, and assistance for business planning and development

FROM SEED TO TABLE (FSTT)

Five producer groups, of around 125 producers, have agreed to collaborate in the development of their “Waterloo Hot Pepper and Okra” business and have started field schools on improved production pepper production, grinding and sale. In addition the Freetown Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture Platform, FUPAP, have agreed on a work plan 2009-2010. Specific issues to be dealt with include zoning of land for urban agriculture in Freetown and Western Area and national policy formulation. Of particular interest in this regard was the recent presentation of the National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan, which includes references to urban food production, and in which several FUPAP partners were/are involved.

The issue of land regulation for urban agriculture was identified as a priority area by the MSF. Illegal land grabbing is a major issue and legislation needs to be revised to better preserve and protect agricultural areas and open spaces. City Councils of Freetown and neighbouring Waterloo, the Ministry of Lands and the Ministry of Agriculture are key players in this process.

PRODUCTS

• Urban agriculture in Freetown: Status, opportunities and constraints - Policy Narrative
• Urban and peri-urban agriculture in Freetown: A five year rolling City Strategic Agenda (2009-2013)

CONTACT

For more information on the RUAF-Cities Farming for the Future Programme in the region, contact the regional coordinator at RUAF West-Africa (Anglophone) or see their website.

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