Vision and objectives

MAFFS' vision is to make agriculture the engine for socio-economic growth and development through commercialization and promotion of the private sector and farmer-based organisations.
To realise this vision the following objectives are to be achieved:
Fostering increased agricultural productivity (intensification)
Promoting commercial agriculture through the private sector and FBOs (extensification)
Improving research and extension service delivery
Promoting effective and efficient resource (financial, physical and human) management
Mainstreaming cross-cutting themes: gender and youth promotion, farmer health care issues (including HIV/AIDS, IVS sicknesses and hazards, malaria, etc) and natural sustainability

National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan

To implement its vision, MAFFS in collaboration with development partners has formulated the National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan (NSADP). This plan provides the roadmap for moving agriculture, forestry and fisheries forward as means to improving food security and wealth generation for the most vulnerable populations in Sierra Leone.
The NSADP provides the broad framework for putting the objectives of the Government's Agenda for Change, Sierra Leone's Second Generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, into action. Agenda for Change identifies agriculture as a critical factor in meeting the first Millennium Development Goal, reducing poverty and food insecurity. In a wider context, the NSADP also serves as the CAADP Compact (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme) under the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU/NEPAD).

The Smallholder Commercialisation Programme

The Smallholder Commercialization Programme (SCP) the main mechanism through which these plans are being implemented. The SCP is the ministry's flagship programme and has the following targets:
Increased agriculture sector growth from its current estimate of 4% to 7.7% per annum by 2015
Increased incomes of farming households by 10%
Increased Household Food Security by 25%
More information on the Smallholder Commercialization Programme can be found here

The relationship between the Millennium Development Goals, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II, the NSADP and the Smallholder Commercialization Project is illustrated below.