Contract Farming Arrangements

Holland Farming Sierra Leone Ltd has organised its operations around farming cooperatives, and smallholder farmers at the district and village levels. This initiative is part of our organisational strategy to contribute towards profitable rural transformation. We are looking for contract farming opportunities to fully engage the capacity and capability of our strong network of farmers and farming associations.

Present contract farming engagement involves the cultivation of sesame seeds for export. Our approach to contract farming is based on the following strategic principles:

Starting small and expanding when appropriate and profitable to both parties;
Providing information and opportunities to farmers who then self select their level of engagement with the contracts, with support from internal quality control mechanisms;
Manageable pricing policy to promote increased commitment and engagement;
Parallel strategies to manage production risk by sourcing auxiliary markets for excess and sub-optimal quality products.

We manage the contractor’s risk by providing the required input and training services to the farmers, while we co-ordinate a regular supply of the products as agreed within the farming contract.

Partnerships and collaboration

Agriculture in Sierra Leone is an overwhelmingly manual process, from land preparation, cultivation and food processing. The use of tractors and small farming machines is restricted to a very small percentage of farmers, often benefiting from foreign investment. The lack of mechanised farming is a barrier to the nation’s ambition to achieve its food security objectives and in turn severely limits the export potential of the country.

To address this urgent constraint, we are seeking partnerships with manufacturers and dealers of farming machines such as tractors, power tillers, trucks, food processing machines/equipment. We are ready to deploy these machines within a strategic lease programme, operated and maintained by our trained staff. Our research and experience of the agricultural market indicates that this vital area is currently greatly under-serviced; there is substantial opportunity to make the leasing of farming machines and equipment a profitable business venture and HFSL is working to make these resources available to the farming communities of Sierra Leone.