Reliable and timely agricultural data is essential to accelerate delivery under the Feed Salone strategy. As Sierra Leone works to strengthen agri-food systems evidence-based planning is critical and has become a key priority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) through improving the quality, accuracy, and availability of agricultural production data.
To support this goal, the Agricultural Transformation Office (ATO), working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) through the Planning, Evaluation, Monitoring & Statistics Division (PEMSD), facilitated the establishment and launch of the Technical Working Group (TWG) for the 2025 Crop Production Survey. The scope of work for the TWG is to provide technical leadership on the crop production sampling strategy and crop cutting methodologies; quality assurance and control of all procedures; validation of the implementation timeline and field plan aligned with cropping calendars; and approval of the final report.
The inaugural TWG technical workshop, held on 9 October 2025, formally convened the group and validated the proposed sampling and crop-cutting methodology for the survey. Members include:
• Planning, Evaluation, Monitoring & Statistics Division (PEMSD)
• Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL)
• Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI)
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• World Bank
• IDInsight
• Agricultural Transformation Office (ATO)
Pre-Survey Underway Across 15 Districts
Following TWG recommendations, PEMSD has begun a pre-survey/listing exercise across 520 enumeration areas in all 15 districts.
Rice, Sierra Leone’s staple crop, is the initial focus of this exercise. The data collected will inform:
• The sampling frame for the 2025 national crop production survey
• Survey tool and methodology validation
• District-level readiness and capacity
• Broader planning and targeting under Feed Salone
District agriculture officers are leading the pre-survey exercise, an approach deliberately intended to facilitate skills and capacity transfer and to strengthen supporting local capacity-strengthening and ownership of data systems more at the devolved level which is the source of data.
The pre-survey findings are expected by mid-November2025, after which the full crop production survey will be launched. The TWG will determine the methodology, crop coverage.
Support by the Agricultural Transformation Office
This exercise is being led by MAF’s through the Agricultural Transformation Office (ATO), with funding support from the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (AATI). The ATO’s contribution includes:
• Financing the pre-survey exercise
• Providing financial support for TWG coordination
• Offering technical expertise as an active TWG member
• Strengthening district-level data and delivery capacity
This partnership reflects a joint commitment to building a robust agricultural data system that enables better planning, stronger policy decisions, and improved delivery outcomes under Feed Salone. A stronger data system means better planning, smarter investments, and accelerated progress toward national food security.
Looking Ahead
The pre survey will inform final operational refinements ahead of the full crop production survey, which is scheduled to begin in the third week of November. These steps will strengthen evidence-based planning and delivery under Feed Salone.
