The Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) has signed a five-year agreement to provide 13 million US Dollars for poultry farming in Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

The agreement was signed with the World Poultry Foundation (WPF) in order to boost their African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI) in Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

The fund will assist the programme to increase poultry productivity by over 150 per cent.

The Director-General of the QFF, Khalifa Al-Kuwari said that the support of WPF’s initiative in Africa will assist in helping poor homes and small-scale poultry businesses.

“This agreement is a continuation of QFFD’s efforts in supporting food security and climate efforts,” he said.

The QFF Director-General spoke about their partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and how that has helped in devising climate-adaptive agriculture tools and technologies to build resilient food systems and markets.

The majority of Sierra Leone’s Rural population are farmers but the country has struggled to produce enough for itself. Experts believe that the sector could help alleviate a large number of Sierra Leoneans from poverty if farmers switch from subsistence agriculture to mechanised agriculture.