Sierra Leone

Poverty is widespread and hunger is worsening in Sierra Leone. Families need food now.
WFP/Michael Duff

Poverty & Hunger

Economic, environmental and political crises have fueled a worsening food security situation in Sierra Leone. On top of these challenges, rising prices have reduced people’s purchasing power and increased widespread poverty.

WFP provides food, cash and nutrition assistance to the most food insecure families.

WFP/Michael Duff
Make a difference in Sierra Leone

Hunger Stats

WFP’s Work in Sierra Leone

Despite the challenges, here’s how we’re fighting hunger and building sustainability.
Posseh Tamba, 28 years, Mattru town, Sierra Leone. (no WFP support)

Posseh is a petty trader who sells food items. Like many petty traders, Posseh is always accused by her customers of increasing the price of the goods she sells.

"Everyone in Sierra Leone is trying to cope. Before, we used to sell three cups of rice for 5,000 Leones. [USD 50 cent]
Now, one cup of rice costs 2,000 Leones. [USD 20 cent]
And not everyone can afford 
the two thousand leones to buy rice."

Sierra Leone is facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity.  
Macroeconomic factors combined with the impacts of COVID-19 are creating a challenging environment for farming communities. An increase in fuel prices has affected market prices, while the inflation of currency decreases the purchasing power of individuals.
Since 2019, the price of rice has increased by 38%. For other goods like cassava, prices went up by 36%. (CSFVA Report May, 2021)
Food and Cash
WFP provides food and cash assistance to the most food insecure people. Cash transfers empower people to make their own choices of food while boosting the local economy. In 2023, WFP reached nearly 55,000 people with cash.
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Children eating school meals in Sierra Leone
School Meals
WFP provides daily hot meals to over 301,000 students. We are also scaling up our homegrown school meals program: More children are served fresh vegetables each day and more farmers have a reliable market for their crops.
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Smallholder farmers carrying freshly harvested potato leaves in Tawuya Community. These farmers are being supported by WFP to cultivate fresh vegetables and legumes for the homegrown school feeding pilot project.

WFP is connecting  the farmers with school feeding programs which purchase fresh produce daily. WFP is also supporting the farmers with seeds as well as training and farming tools.

In its efforts to expand school feeding and extend its potential benefits to more nationals, the Government of Sierra Leone recently launched a policy emphasizing a transition to a better kind of school feeding (home-grown). Collaborating with the Japan International Development Cooperation, the World Food Programme then took a step to implement a pilot that might show the country how to achieve its aspirations, gradually. In the pilot, WFP has connected smallholder farmers to the local schools to supply them with surplus vegetables daily, as well as surplus rice. WFP transfers cash to schools to make these purchases.
Small-Scale Farming
WFP assists over 9,000 small-scale farmers to cultivate, process and market rice and nutritious vegetables. Farmers are also trained in climate-smart agricultural methods and post-harvest management.
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