The opportunity Cassava is Sierra Leone's second staple after rice and contributes 57.4 percent of agricultural GDP, with 2.6 million tonnes produced on 155,706 hectares on a largely smallholder basis. Yields sit at around 15 tonnes per hectare against a potential of 60 — the widest productivity gap of any crop in the portfolio, and the reason a comparatively small investment carries the strongest return ratio of the four cases. The export story is already happening; it is simply happening informally. Formal garri exports grew from 1.6 to 42 tonnes between 2021 and 2025, while informal cross-border trade to Guinea and Liberia runs at an estimated 600 tonnes a week. The gap between those two figures is the opportunity. Capturing that trade in formal, traceable channels raises smallholder prices, generates recorded export earnings, and opens the way to higher-value products — high quality cassava flour and industrial starch for regional and international markets. Traceability is why this is the one Sierra Leonean case carrying the Digital impact tag.

Key bottlenecks 

• Yield gains below expectations, cassava mosaic disease, and climate variability
• Unreliable fresh cassava supply, low ramp-up throughput, and thin processing margins • Road disruption in the rainy season and coordination across many smallholders • Limited access to finance and weak managerial capacity

What the investment delivers

• Cassava production clusters: 15 clusters across 25,000 hectares with 250 Farmer Field Schools. USD 24.0 million, private.
• HQCF and starch processing: 3 processing units and 3 small-capacity units. USD 6.2 million, private.
• Collection and logistics network: 15 collection and aggregation networks and 55 transport-support packages. USD 5.7 million, PPP.
• Financing and capacity building: 5 financing cycles and windows. USD 5.6 million, PPP.

The target Formalise the export channel and launch trade in high quality cassava flour and starch for regional and international markets.

The opportunity Palm oil is Sierra Leone's second-largest agricultural export, with annual crude palm oil production of around 50,000 tonnes valued at roughly USD 50 million. Unlike the other cases in the portfolio, this one starts from an established commercial base. Global demand supports expansion: palm oil accounts for about 35 percent of world vegetable oil demand, and West Africa is gaining share. Around 70 percent of smallholder output currently leaves the country informally for Guinea, which means a substantial share of the value created never registers as national export earnings and never reaches domestic processors. The 2022 Customary Land Law is easing land access, removing what has historically been the binding constraint on plantation-scale investment. This is also the strongest environmental case in the portfolio: rehabilitation and expansion deliver a net carbon benefit of 3.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent over twenty years.

Key bottlenecks

• Slow yield recovery, climate variability, and disease pressure
• Low mill utilisation and feedstock shortages
• High operating costs and technical constraints in processing
• Limited uptake of available finance

What the investment delivers

• Production rehabilitation and expansion: rehabilitate or expand 40,000 hectares, 400 Farmer Field Schools, and 800 km of feeder roads. USD 123.2 million, private.
• Community and cluster mills: 40 community and cluster palm oil mills. USD 80.0 million, PPP.
• Integrated processing and refining: 8 medium integrated mills and 4 refinery and downstream facilities. USD 80.0 million, private and PPP.
• Access to finance and value chain support: 5 financing windows and facilities. USD 2.5 million, PPP.

The target By 2032: scale production to supply domestic processing and export markets, and eliminate imports.