USAID/Sierra Leone: New Techniques Improve Rice Harvest in Rural Sierra Leone

FEBRUARY 6, 2004

New Techniques Improve Rice Harvest in Rural Sierra Leone

A new 'System of Rice Intensification' being promoted in lowland swamps by USAID partner World Vision is improving rice harvests in rural Sierra Leone.

In Wanjama village, the rice harvest is bountiful this year, thanks to the Systems of Rice Intensification (SRI) introduced around the rural Kono area by USAID-sponsored non-governmental Agency World Vision. By using good-quality seeds from the southern districts of Sierra Leone, 6 kg of rice are typically producing 55-60 bushels of rice, a harvest that is being celebrated in the area as farmers resume their agricultural activities after the war.

Rice seedlings are transplanted after just ten days. Here they are protected from the sun by palm fronds.

In Kono, farmers have a tendency to plant on the hillsides, shunning the swamplands because the working conditions -- cold water, occasional leeches, etc. -- are more difficult in the swamps. However, upland rice farming is environmentally-destructive, usually involving deforestation of trees, and the yields are not as great as those obtained in the swamps with SRI techniques.

Farmers had to be convinced, though, by better swampland yields in order to accept the working conditions. To ensure that their messages get transmitted well, World Vision is employing local farmers who understand and appreciate the new SRI techniques to work as learning facilitators to explain the advantages of SRI to other local farmers. World Vision has also set up model fields in nearby Jalla village to demonstrate the new techniques, and to let farmers see for themselves whether or not it's worth it to use the new techniques.

So far so good in Wanjama village. Says Kumba Thomas, Representative of the Women's Agricultural Cooperative, "Before we were in the darkness. Through your support, it is like we have seen the light. We have food in our stomachs, and I am happy here at home. I just came back from the fields where we are working well together."

sweet potatoes in a rice field outside of Wanjama village

Here sweet potatoes have been planted in this rice field as a rotation crop.

Says Tamba Nelson, Coordinator of the World Vision Agricultural Program in the Kono District, "Traditionally, the farmers just broadcast (scatter) the rice in the field. Our agents worked together with the farmers in planting and then transplanting the rice after just ten days, and the farmers found out that with that method, they use a small quantity of seeds, and they are able to produce more. They have accepted the new practice because it works."

The same methods are being applied in other regions of Sierra Leone as well. Dako Sesay, a farmer and Cluster Chairman of Kamadugu-Sukurala, in the northern Koinadugu District, says that SRI-type interventions, along with seeds and tools supplied by USAID-sponsored Christian Children's Fund have increased yields in that area. "When we [scattered] rice in the uplands, we would produce less--two bushels of rice compared to about 12 bushels of rice through the new transplanting techniques we're now using in the swamplands. We're also growing tomatoes, pumpkins and corn in our fields, along with the rice. You can see the harvest has been good."

a woman stands next to her vegetable garden in Wanjama village

A woman in Wanjama village shows off her onion garden.

Rice planted during the rainy season is now being rotated in with vegetables such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, okra and cucumber during the dry season to add more variety to the local diet, and to improve nitrate entrance into the soil since rice planting alone tends to deplete the soil of nitrates. Potatoes are new to the region, but have seemed to have gained acceptance as a dietary supplement. Women's groups in the area are also receiving help with restocking of animals such as improved breeds of cockerels and goats, and in learning improved techniques for vegetable gardening.

Thomas says that because the rice harvest was so abundant, the village's next challenge is to ensure that the rice gets dried and stored properly; rice is currently being stored in the rooms of farmers' houses, for lack of a proper storage facilities.

Proper grain storage is an essential element to ensuring basic food security at the village level throughout the year, and will be tackled by USAID-sponsored NGOs working in Sierra Leone as the country strives to move away from emergency food aid and toward solutions that promote sustainable development.

two children snack on palm kernals as they wait for their mother to finish preparing dinner to be served in Wanjama village.

Children in Wanjama village. SRI, improved seed varieties and the restocking of animals have ensured higher rice yields and a more varied diet for local families.

Not only are new planting techniques making for a more bountiful harvest, but they are also limiting deforestation in the area, which has already been ravaged for decades by artisanal diamond mining. The advantage of the SRI swampland technique is that it can also be applied to areas that were once mined and cleared of diamonds, rehabilitating the old mining grounds in a productive way.

World Vision is also working to promote this idea in the area, though farmers can only be convinced through concrete results -- if the new techniques produce more food throughout the year than traditional farming techniques.

Says Kiamu, "By developing their swamp, twice a year they will have food harvests -- they will plant rice during the rainy season and vegetables during the dry season, which will improve the quality and quantity of their food basket. As the farmers themselves appreciate what they are able to obtain from the new technology, they will use it. That's what we're seeing."

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue