UN says over 3.5M Sierra Leoneans 'food insecure'

By Alpha Kamara

DAKAR, Senegal (AA) – Over half of Sierra Leone’s population does not have access to safe food, new research claimed on Thursday.

A UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report prepared with Sierra Leone’s government claimed over 3.5 million people were food insecure.

Of these, the report said, about 600,000 were adversely food insecure, eating less food, less nutritious food and unable to cope with new shocks such as droughts or floods.

The report targeted over 30,000 households across the country’s 49 chiefdoms and the capital Freetown, making it the largest such survey since the devastating 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Researchers said that epidemic accounted for a decline in agricultural productivity which limited the ability of households to produce or buy enough food.

Low agricultural productivity, poverty, poor road networks, gender inequality and a lack of farmers’ income were also blamed for the perilous food situation.

FAO country representative in Sierra Leone, Nyabenyi Tipo, said only four percent of the population was growing enough rice to meet its daily needs.

“This is a big challenge if the country is to achieve its UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 of ending hunger -- more needs to be done,” he added.