PCS-Onion Farm

active

The proposed IFC investment is a project finance loan of up to US$12 million to Pee Cee & Sons Holding LTD (PCS). The use of proceeds will support PCS's Pee Cee Agriculture (PCA” or the “Company”) for the establishment of an onion farming operation. At the time of the appraisal, the farm was operating on a labor-intensive mode but is aiming toward a fully irrigated and mechanized operation in the future. PCA signed a land lease agreement over 646 hectares (ha) in Lungi town in Port Loko District, in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone (the “Project”).  PCA has developed 71ha as part of a farm’s pilot phase. Additional 50ha will be developed on average each year, amounting to a total production area of 350 ha for the lifetime of the IFC loan. An ESIA study, as per national regulatory requirements, has been prepared for this farm in 2023; an updated ESIA study has been finalized in June 2024 to address specific IFC Performance Standards (PSs) requirements. Based on this PS-compliant ESIA study, the design of the farm operation has been amended to avoid initially identified E&S risks, namely the: i) physical displacement of the Rogbatha village from the farm’s footprint and establishment of a 300 meters buffer zone between the village and the farm; ii) exclusion of 80.6 ha of natural habitat and wetland from the farm’s footprint; iii) establishment of a 50 meters buffer zone between the farm and natural habitat/wetland, and iv) avoidance of Cultural Heritage impacts through the exclusion of sacred shrines from the farm’s footprint. PCA is also sourcing onion produce from an out-grower scheme, through pre-harvest service agreements. In 2024, PCA signed service agreements with 41 cooperatives (approximatively 1,300 farmers in total, 80% of which are female). Each cooperative cultivates a plot of land ranging from 0.6 to 3ha. PCA aims to reach 5,000 farmers as part of the out-grower scheme.