Sierra Leone Cabinet has passed a new policy that will boost the production of rice and its value.

It was stated that as a prerequisite for import licenses, importers must participate in cultivating, aggregating, process, etc in the local rice value chain, a policy that will support importers to become exporters.

It was disclosed that starting January 2024, at least 20% of rice supplied to govt. institutions like the military, prisons, schools, police, remand homes, firefighters, etc must be local rice. According to the plan, the share will double in 2025 and each subsequent year until it reaches 100% local rice.

The project is said to create a huge demand-pull and trigger local production. Special thanks were sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) technical staff and also to the external partners