Rural and Private Sector Development

closed

The objectives of the Rural and Private Sector Development Project of Sierra Leone are to improve efficiencies along the value chain of agricultural commodities with higher benefits flowing to the producers. The project will have four components. Component A is the Domestic Marketing Improvement which aims at improving domestic distribution channels for selected agricultural products to improve the ability of farmers and traders to market their goods in Freetown and other large domestic markets. Component B is the Agricultural Export Promotion which will provide the necessary tools and services for promoting agricultural exports of commodities such as cocoa, coffee, cashew, oil palm, cassava and ginger. The component will support an export promotion initiative for these commodities identified as promising for export by the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS). Target beneficiaries include agricultural producers, agricultural exporters and other private enterprises in the value chain. Component C, Support to Farmer-based Organizations and Technology Improvement, aims at increasing farmers' access to improved agricultural technology and practices to support quality improvement of commodities supported under Components A and B and strategic studies to identify support for additional commodities and markets. It will target rural producers. Component D, Policy Regulations, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, will finance the development of key policy regulations, the project management function and monitoring and evaluation.