[{"bbox": [97, 153, 1134, 312], "category": "Text", "text": "While priority area 1 “Green Economy” of the MIP contributes directly to the Team Europe Initiative, priority areas “human development” and “governance” shall help to overcome identified binding constraints to Sierra Leone’s development. In the context of Global Gateway Africa-Europe, the European Union launched in December 2021 a support package to accelerate sustainable growth and the creation of decent jobs, notably for the sustainable development of inclusive value chains, with an emphasis on food production, income creation and opportunities for regional and continental integration."}, {"bbox": [85, 341, 340, 370], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [97, 384, 1134, 524], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite significant agricultural potential, Sierra Leone is a net food importer, suffering from large-scale food and nutrition insecurity, and is characterized by a small private sector that struggles to make ends meet. The economy is largely informal and non-structured, as are relationships between researchers and producers; producers, aggregators and off-takers and between off-takers and processors. Relevant institutions with potential to transform the sector are weak and the human capacity and skills equally so."}, {"bbox": [97, 538, 1134, 937], "category": "Text", "text": "**Oil palm** is a traditional food and cash crop in Sierra Leone. Crude palm oil enjoys almost unlimited demand nationally, regionally, and internationally, if appropriately certified.¹⁴ It is the second most important agricultural export crop¹⁵; with great potential for both foreign exchange generation, women’s economic empowerment at local levels, income generation through less seasonality of harvest and local value addition with small mills. It can also contribute to improved tree cover for biodiversity preservation and to act as carbon-sinks during their productive life (25-30 years)¹⁶. Yet strategic investment has lagged. There lacks information on varieties of oil palm and inadequate research on and development of their germplasms, and mother/father trees and nurseries. Large scale plantations are planted with imported materials. Smallholder farmers (70% of the oil palm production area) have old palm oil farm (more than 30 years old) relying on traditional yet inefficient, unsafe, and polluting artisanal production methods for domestic food markets. There is little or no rehabilitative zoning or planning land use around old plantations.¹⁷ Farmers receive little guidance in terms of limiting land use change, biodiversity preservation and afforestation practices. Quality seedlings are not available for sale on the market, and do not have a local market price. In selected cases, smallholders receive seedlings from companies¹⁸; but majority of farmers harvest wild varieties in old plantations. Smallholder palm oil farmers receive 2-3 MT/ha, whereas commercialised producers with improved inputs and improved, climate-friendly practices reach up to 15MT/ha."}, {"bbox": [97, 950, 1134, 1188], "category": "Text", "text": "Notwithstanding the abundance of oil palm, the country is not able to meet its local demand and imports about one fourth of its consumption (mainly from Malaysia), both for domestic processing into edible oil, as well as refining of crude oil into soap and other products by a handful of large-scale processors. Crude oil as well as soap products are also traded to neighbouring countries. A few large mills exist (40,000 MT/year) as well as range of smaller mills (1MT/year) in the communities. All have underutilized capacity, and workers lack skills for their maintenance. By-products are used to some extent, for example palm kernel oil, but largescale, systematic exploitation of circular economy opportunities is missing. One larger, though informal, out grower scheme exists in the country and other processors and manufacturers are interested in strengthening their producer networks for stability of supply. Very few projects support the value chain."}, {"bbox": [85, 1236, 1143, 1309], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁴ The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil certification (RSPO) is the most prevalent certification, however, RSPO Organic Certification and potentially de-forestation free certification is required to reach premium markets for palm oil. This requires organic land use for 10-15 years prior to achieving certification."}, {"bbox": [85, 1310, 843, 1333], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ It is the second most important agricultural export crop of the country (FAOSTAT 2021)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1334, 1145, 1502], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ In fact, research from Ghana has shown that palm plantations can sequester carbon when residue materials in the form of pruned palm fronds are well managed. While changing land use from primary and secondary forests does lead to an increase in carbon emissions, oil palm plantations are able to sequester more and more carbon as they age (peaking at 20-25 years, after which it declines), given specific practices on farm. (\"Dynamics of soil carbon sequestration under oil palm plantations of different ages\". Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon, Rome, Italy 21-23 March 2017. This Action targets regeneration of old, abandoned oil palm plantations past their useful carbon sequestration potential in order to restore organic materials to the soil, and increased carbon sequestration capacity of the planted areas."}, {"bbox": [85, 1502, 1143, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ Oil palm plantations emit carbon dioxide when they are young; however, mature plantations can act as carbon sinks in the same way as trees. The productive life of an oil palm ends after 25-30 years. Many oil palms in Sierra Leone are more than 40 years old and thus no longer act as carbon sinks or provide tree cover to the soil and micro-organisms."}, {"bbox": [85, 1573, 1143, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁸ Gold Tree, one of the major investors into oil palm processing with both a nucleus estate and an out grower scheme, has made some seedlings available to farmers on loan. However, farmers do not repay in good time, reinforced by the absence of an effective repayment system. This cumulatively affects Gold Tree’s liquidity."}, {"bbox": [1035, 1680, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 33"}]