Sierra Leone President Bio commends progress in poultry farming, food security 

SIERRA LEONE – Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio recently held discussions with Moses Patcole, Manager of the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI) under FeedDeNation, to address the expanding role of poultry farming in enhancing food security and improving livelihoods across the nation. 

Their collaboration, aimed at advancing sustainable poultry production, has earned them the “Award of Excellence” for contributions that have shaped poultry standards and widened access to nutrition resources in Sierra Leone.

The APMI initiative, backed financially by the Qatar Fund for Development, is seen as a driving force behind significant changes in the country’s poultry industry. 

FeedDeNation, through APMI, is providing dual-purpose poultry breeds — chickens suited for both egg and meat production — which address key concerns around malnutrition and income generation. 

These birds, accessible to small-scale farmers, are designed to offer an affordable protein source while enabling farmers to earn from two distinct income streams. 

Expanding the APMI program to more regions within Sierra Leone is another key objective, with FeedDeNation planning to develop a distribution network to reach small-scale farmers, particularly in isolated regions with limited food sources. 

This comes as the country’s poultry scene has been on the ascension, as numbers indicate.

In 2023, Sierra Leone’s poultry output reached 20,600 metric tons, with projections indicating an increase to 23,200 metric tons by 2028, wich was an average annual growth of 1.9%. 

Poultry consumption in Sierra Leone was around 30,600 metric tons in 2021, but demand has been decreasing at a rate of 1.1% per year since 2017.

In 2022, Sierra Leone imported poultry meat valued at $30.3 million, while its exports in this sector totaled US$28.1 thousand.

Key suppliers included the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, with Angola as the primary export market.

Annual egg production in Sierra Leone stands at approximately 30 million eggs, yet the country imports nearly 14 million eggs each month, meeting only about 18% of its total yearly egg demand through local production.

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