By Davida Spaine-Solomon
Freetown, 26th October 2026- Sierra Leone’s home-grown school feeding programme generated approximately US$2 million in commercial supply contracts for local farmer organisations while securing more than 1,000 metric tonnes of locally produced rice and pulses by August 2026, according to the Feed Salone Year Three Report.
The report, published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, highlights institutional procurement as an increasingly important market mechanism within the Feed Salone initiative, linking thousands of smallholder farmers to guaranteed buyers while expanding the use of locally produced food in public institutions. The procurement forms part of a broader target to purchase 2,500 metric tonnes of rice from smallholder farmers across seven districts for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The initiative is designed to strengthen domestic agricultural markets by directing public food expenditure towards local producers, processors and suppliers while creating reliable demand for agricultural commodities.
The report states that the World Food Programme (WFP) signed commercial supply contracts valued at approximately US$2 million, providing farmer organisations with a predictable market for their produce. By August 2026, more than 1,000 metric tonnes of locally produced rice and pulses had already been secured through a network of 26 local suppliers and aggregators connected to more than 22,000 smallholder farmers.
The procurement programme is expected to provide meals for over 270,000 pupils in 1,204 schools during the 2026/2027 academic year.
The report identifies community rice-processing infrastructure as a key component of the institutional procurement system. Ten community rice-processing hubs established with support from WFP in 2025 operated commercially during the reporting period. Located across seven major rice-producing districts, each facility has the capacity to mill approximately one metric tonne of rice per hour.
By August 2026, the hubs had processed 1,312 metric tonnes of rice, with 845 metric tonnes sold directly to WFP under the home-grown school feeding programme. The processing network serves 245 farmer organisations representing 4,235 farmers.
According to the report, participating farmer organisations earned approximately US$900,000 from rice sales to WFP, demonstrating the commercial potential of institutional procurement as a stable market channel for domestic producers.
During the 2025/2026 academic year, 983,993 pupils in 4,016 schools received meals under the programme, representing an increase of 54,850 pupils reached during the year. The report indicates that expanding beneficiary numbers is also increasing demand for locally sourced agricultural commodities.
Between January and June 2026, more than 1,600 metric tonnes of food were delivered to 1,204 schools. Procurement increasingly included vegetables, dried fish, pulses and other locally produced foods in addition to rice.
In August 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces signed a memorandum of understanding allowing the military to purchase rice from the National Grain Reserve.
At the time, the reserve held more than 10,000 bags of locally produced rice at the Kobia Store in Kambia District. Under the first transaction, the Armed Forces purchased 9,000 bags of rice weighing 50 kilogrammes each, equivalent to approximately 450 metric tonnes.
The report states that the arrangement creates an additional commercial outlet for domestic rice producers while supporting stock rotation within the National Grain Reserve.
Government is also pursuing plans to extend the home-grown institutional feeding model to correctional facilities, hospitals and other public institutions. The strategy is intended to increase domestic demand for agricultural commodities and ensure that public food spending contributes directly to local agricultural production and rural incomes.
Alongside procurement efforts, the programme is supporting value addition and nutrition-focused agricultural enterprises. The report notes that orange-fleshed sweet potato and yellow-fleshed cassava have been incorporated into school menus to improve nutritional outcomes while creating market opportunities for local producers.
The Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute, working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, developed four soybean products including soymilk, tofu, soy-ogiri and soybean flour. The institute also improved the protein quality of five commonly consumed local foods.
To support commercial production and household utilisation, 120 members of farmer organisations and Mother Support Groups received training in soybean processing, with women accounting for 100 of those trained.
The proportion of households classified as severely food insecure declined from 28 per cent in September 2023 to 13 per cent in July 2025. Meanwhile, the share of households with an acceptable Food Consumption Score increased from 34.5 per cent in 2021 to 57 per cent during the first quarter of 2025.
However, the report notes that the programme’s target remains 65 per cent, leaving the current figure eight percentage points below the desired level.
Looking ahead, the report identifies institutional procurement systems, community processing facilities and the National Grain Reserve as critical market infrastructure supporting Feed Salone’s objectives. For the 2026/2027 school year, government and WFP have set a target of procuring 2,500 metric tonnes of locally produced rice from smallholder farmers across seven districts.
With approximately 1,000 metric tonnes already secured by August 2026, the programme is expected to deepen commercial linkages between farmers, processors and institutional buyers while expanding the share of public food expenditure spent on Sierra Leonean agricultural products.
