Sierra Leone
- 77%
- of people are food insecure
- 26.2%
- of children are stunted
- 254,700
- children receiving school meals each day
Sierra Leone is a small but densely populated country on the North Atlantic coast of West Africa, ranked 185th out of 193 countries in the 2024 Human Development Index.
The economic effects of the Ukraine crisis, alongside global inflation, have further worsened food and nutrition security, exacerbating macroeconomic instability and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in an already food-deficit country.
Sharp increases in fuel and fertilizer prices have driven up the costs of transport, food and other essential goods, reducing household purchasing power and deepening poverty.
While there has been progress in reducing stunting (impaired growth due to malnutrition) over the past decade, the national prevalence remains high at 26.2 percent – classified as a serious public health concern by the World Health Organization. Stunting continues to undermine human capital development and Sierra Leone’s long-term economic growth.
Agriculture remains the backbone of Sierra Leone’s economy, employing over 60 percent of the population. However, the sector is dominated by smallholder farmers relying on subsistence practices, with limited access to improved seeds, fertilizers and modern techniques. Declining soil fertility and erratic weather patterns further reduce yields, threatening food production.
Climate change poses a severe risk to food security and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas where most people reside. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and sea-level rises increase the frequency of droughts, floods and coastal erosion. Sierra Leone has faced repeated climate shocks, including devastating floods in 2022 and 2023, displacing thousands and damaging crops.
The World Food Programme provides food, cash transfers, nutrition support and capacity strengthening, with a focus on empowering women smallholder farmers and improving school meal programmes. Enhancing national preparedness for climate shocks and strengthening food-security monitoring remain key priorities.
What the World Food Programme is doing in Sierra Leone
-
Emergency response
-
WFP works with the Ministry of Social Welfare and the National Disaster Management Agency to ensure that crisis-affected people can meet their food and nutritional needs and are supported in recovering from shocks. The primary objective of this activity is to save lives and protect livelihoods. To mitigate the impact of high food prices on the most vulnerable people, WFP provide cash transfers to cover the needs of people who regularly go without enough nutritious food.
-
Home-grown school feeding
-
In support of the Government’s efforts to attract and retain children in schools, WFP provides daily hot meals to over 300,000 pupils in the most food-insecure chiefdoms. For some schools, WFP obtains part of this food from local smallholder farmer groups, as it gradually scales up the home-grown school feeding programme in line with national policy. More children are being served fresh vegetables each day, and farmers have a reliable market for their crops. WFP also trains cooks to prepare safer, tastier and more nutritious food.
-
Malnutrition prevention
-
WFP works to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, including children aged 6-23 months, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and adolescent girls, aligning with the Government’s 2025 national targets. This activity integrates nutrition interventions with asset creation and livelihood initiatives, emphasizing institutional capacity building and strengthening the capabilities of mother support groups. In 2023, WFP piloted a pioneering approach to increase local production of affordable, enriched complementary food for children aged 6-23 months. Four women groups were equipped and trained to hygienically produce nutrient-rich, local, complementary food, targeting infants living in the immediate catchment area of the production site.
-
Promoting local nutritious foods
-
WFP works with the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute to promote diet diversity and access to healthy local foods for infants. Following trials, WFP and the institute have introduced four standardized and enriched local complementary foods. These include tubers rich in pro-vitamin A, such as orange-fleshed sweet potato and yellow cassava. WFP supports communities in cultivating and storing them safely.
-
Supporting smallholder farmers
-
WFP assists 140 groups – comprising over 8,000 smallholder farmers across seven districts – to cultivate, process and market rice and nutritious vegetables. The groups cultivate inland valley swamps, which ensures year-round cultivation. WFP supports the farmers with irrigation projects. They are also trained in climate-smart agricultural methods, post-harvest crop management, group marketing and how to successfully run village savings and loans schemes. The farmer groups supply the home-grown school feeding programme.
Sierra Leone news releases
Go to pagePartners and donors
Find out more about the state of food security in Sierra Leone
Visit the food security analysis pageOperations in Sierra Leone
Contacts
Office
6A Renner Drive Off Wilkinson Road P. O. Box 1011
Freetown
Sierra Leone