Sowing Seeds of Hope: How Community Farming is Transforming Lives in Sierra Leone

Meet Kadiatu and Katta, two resilient women who share a dream to see their children thrive. Sadly, they were both barred by law from finishing school after they became pregnant as teenagers (though this law has now changed). In their hometown of Tormabum, Sierra Leone, this makes it even more challenging to find work in an already unstable job market. Despite working hard as agricultural labourers, earning a dollar a day when work was available, their dreams of educating their children were overshadowed by the mandatory costs of uniforms, meals and books.  

Their turning point came when the pair attended a meeting at their local church. Their pastor told them about Farming Out Of Poverty (FOOP). FOOP provides individuals with all the inputs they need to kickstart their farming journey, including access to quality seeds, technology and comprehensive training. The final piece in the puzzle was access to land; keen to support his community, the pastor had secured a plot of land suitable for farming.  

Inspired by the meeting, Katta and Kadiatu joined forces with others and formed a collective farming group. The group called themselves FADO, meaning ‘come together.’ FADO accessed a loan from FOOP to buy the farming inputs Kadiatu and Katta needed to succeed. 

Together they planted rice and beans, ensuring a year-round harvest that made the most of the rainy and dry season. After successful harvests and sales, the group pooled funds to pay back the loan from FOOP and invested the remainder in another year of farming inputs.   

With the newfound stability offered by the partnership with FOOP, both Katta and Kadiatu now earn enough to send their children to school.

As they look ahead to the future, the duo hope to join a FOOP savings group to ensure they have access to savings in case of emergencies, or even to start another business that will help them and their children to flourish.