By Kotus | Independent News SL |
When President Julius Maada Bio first announced the Feed Salone Initiative, many dismissed it as another slogan destined for the archives of forgotten government policies. Today, the picture is different. With coordinated leadership across cabinet and strong buy-in from communities, Feed Salone is emerging as the cornerstone of Sierra Leone’s fight for real independence and economic dignity.
Lessons from History: Food as Revolution
History is full of nations that built their revolutions on food security.
China transformed itself in the 1950s–70s by prioritizing agricultural self-sufficiency. It was smallholder farmers, supported by state-backed programs, who laid the foundation for China’s industrial rise.
Vietnam, after decades of war, became one of the world’s largest rice exporters by supporting village-level farming and linking it to national development goals.
Cuba, under severe embargoes in the 1990s, turned to urban farming and backyard gardens. Today, Havana is a global model for food self-sufficiency through community farming.
Even Ethiopia and Rwanda in Africa show how food security policies, tied to national planning, can reduce dependency and create stability.
The lesson is simple but powerful: countries that feed themselves control their future; countries that depend on imports remain vulnerable.
President Bio’s Feed Salone draws from this global playbook but adapts it to Sierra Leone’s reality. The call for every household to grow at least half of what they consume is not small talk, it is a direct attempt to shift the country’s economic base from dependency to resilience.
Leadership and Coordination
What makes this initiative different from past attempts is the whole-of-government approach.
The Ministry of Agriculture, under Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka, has been the nerve center. His team has rolled out farmer support packages, promoted backyard gardens, and engaged traditional leaders to encourage community buy-in. They’ve moved the conversation from abstract policy to practical action at the household and community level.
The Chief Minister’s office has ensured inter-ministerial coordination, holding agencies accountable and aligning energy, infrastructure, and trade policies with the needs of agriculture. Food security cannot be achieved in silos, and this role has been critical.
The Ministry of Finance has provided the lifeblood, funding. By ring-fencing allocations for agricultural support and prioritizing Feed Salone in budget planning, the ministry is signaling that food is not a side project but a national investment. Their push to rebalance resources away from heavy rice import bills towards local production is quietly revolutionary.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has taken Feed Salone abroad, presenting it to international partners not as aid dependency but as a credible, homegrown reform. They have opened conversations with development banks, bilateral donors, and regional bodies to secure technical assistance, funding, and market linkages. This diplomatic offensive ensures that Sierra Leone is not only producing for itself but also positioning agriculture as a pillar of foreign relations and trade.
Skeptics argue that backyard gardens are too small to change national food security. But evidence from Cuba, China, and even contemporary Kenya proves otherwise. When scaled across millions of households, gardens become the foundation of national nutrition. They cut household food expenses, diversify diets, and reduce the pressure on imports.
Already, early adopters in Freetown and provincial towns are planting in containers, school compounds, and community lots. These small changes add up, shifting the psychology of food production: from dependence on markets to self-reliance at home.
Beyond Rice Prices: The Bigger Picture
The rice price debate shows the urgency. Locally, a bag now costs 670,000 leones in 2025, up from 250,000 when Ernest Bai Koroma left power. But, rice is actually cheaper now than before 2018 in terms of value for money. This paradox reveals a structural truth that, Sierra Leone’s food crisis is not only about price, it is about control. Control over production, distribution, and sustainability.
Feed Salone tackles this head-on. By shifting production locally, Sierra Leone breaks the cycle of importing its staple food at the mercy of foreign exchange rates.
A Revolutionary Step for Sierra Leone
Like Lenin argued over a century ago, no development is sustainable without solving the agrarian question. President Bio has put Sierra Leone’s version of that truth at the center of his governance. Feed Salone is not a side policy. It is a national survival strategy.
And unlike past agricultural slogans, this one is backed by a coordinated cabinet that beloved that, Agriculture driving the policy, Finance providing the funding, Foreign Affairs building the partnerships, and the Chief Minister ensuring alignment.
The revolution is already underway. It is in the seed packets handed to farmers, the school gardens sprouting in Kailahun, the backyard plots in Freetown, and the diplomatic pitches made in international capitals.
The challenge now is scale and discipline. If citizens embrace this vision, Sierra Leone will not only feed itself but also join the ranks of countries that turned food into freedom. Feed Salone is Sierra Leone’s chance to write its own story of resilience, sovereignty, and development.
