Dr. Abdul Rahman Conteh
Ag. Director General
After a period of coordination of agricultural research under National Agricultural Research Coordinating Council (NARCC), the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) established the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) through the 2007 SLARI Act of Parliament which was reviewed in 2023 (Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute Act, 2023). SLARI is now the agricultural research and agricultural technology generating body for the benefit of the farming, fishing and forestry sectors and to provide for other related matters. When fully operational, SLARI will be expected to have the following seven research centres:
SLARI has a major role to play in addressing the many challenges facing the agriculture,
fishery and forestry sub sectors in the country. As the national agricultural research
institution, it is expected to conduct research to obtain knowledge, information and
technologies needed for sustainable development of the country’s agricultural sector.
The core functions of SLARI are defined in the SLARI Act of 2007. These provide
SLARI and its research centres with a clear framework for delivering on its mandate.
The core functions include:
(a) Provide information that will assist the Government and other stakeholders in the
development of agricultural policies for poverty alleviation, food security and
improved livelihoods of the citizens of Sierra Leone.
(b) Formulate agricultural research policies and programmes taking into account
the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the agricultural sector, in line with
government policy, and views of stakeholders, especially those which relate to
sustainable food security, and conservation of renewable resources of Sierra
Leone.
(c) Conduct food and cash crops production, livestock production and health, fish
production, land and water management, forestry production and conservation,
food and nutrition, technology and socioeconomics of post-harvest activities,
emerging technologies in agricultural science biosafety and environmental
conservation.
(d) Establishment of strong working relationship with extension agents in the public
and private sectors in the transfer of technology.
(e) Maintain a register of research scientists, research projects and research results.
(f) Facilitate and provide the relevant training and manpower development to serve
the agricultural needs of the country.
(g) Produce annual reports highlighting management, scientific training and financial
aspects of the Institute.
Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute 4 Strategic Plan 2012-2021
(h) Establish strong links with national, regional and international agricultural
research institutions or agencies involved in science and technology development
and transfer.
(i) Representing the country in regional and international fora.
(j) Enhance public awareness on importance of scientific research to agricultural and
economic development.
(k) Disseminate knowledge on improved technologies to stakeholders.
(l) Monitor and evaluate adoption and impact of agricultural research on agricultural
productivity.
(m) Process and forward to government annual estimates for funding.
(n) Mobilize human, financial and capital resources from donors, private sector and
from within the Institute for the benefit of SLARI.
This strategic Plan emphasises the need for SLARI, as a national research organization,
to work with partners, collaborators, the farming community and other players along the
various agricultural product value chains so as to have a vibrant commercially-oriented
and competitive agricultural sector. To be responsive to client demands, and eventually
deliver development objectives, there is greater need of true partnerships among key
stakeholders within the agricultural sector. This Strategic Plan, therefore, provides a
framework and a roadmap for SLARI’s research programmes for the next ten years. As
a framework, the Strategic Plan provides the guiding principles and basis on which a
detailed five year operational plan that is required to operationalize it shall be developed.
The Strategic Plan is the outcome of several months of continuous learning,
communication and negotiation by the Institute and stakeholders, with the primary
objective of building consensus around the Institute’s strategic areas. In this regard,
I wish to thank the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security
through whose initiative and effort a collaborative partnership with Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute and Africa Rice Centre and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
was established to assist SLARI in the development of this new Strategic Plan. In view
of this, I would like to thank most sincerely the team of experts from the KARI, Africa
Rice Centre and FARA under the leadership of Dr. Antony M. Kilewe who spearheaded
the preparation of this Strategic Plan. I appreciate the efforts and hard work of the
SLARI Director General, Dr A. Dixon and all the SLARI staff and stakeholders who
were involved in one way or another in the preparation of this document. It is my hope
that all our stakeholders will find the document pragmatic and adequately reflective of
their needs from the point of view of agricultural research for development.
Brief statement by the then Chairman, SLARI Council Prof. Edward R. Rhodes.
Decisions and actions in SLARI are consistently based on a set of clear principles outlined
here as the institutional Guiding Core Values. The institutional Core Values guide actions
at all levels when choices are not clear or when there is a gap between intention and
reality. The Institutional Guiding Core Values that SLARI and its stakeholders and
partners hold in common and endeavour to put into practice while performing their
functional obligations include the following:
(i) Scientific excellence, innovativeness and ethics: SLARI believes that the
stakes in Agricultural Product Value Chain approach to research are extremely
high in terms of the investments that are necessary for meaningful outcomes and
is, therefore, committed to scientific excellence, innovativeness and adherent to
ethics and standards so as to ensure that all research work and recommendations
Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute 3 6 Strategic Plan 2012-2021
made to stakeholders emanate from sound evidence based on rigorous scientific
findings of the highest quality possible.
(ii) Impact, performance and service orientation: SLARI will remain focused on
integrated agricultural research for development by ensuring that all research
activities undertaken or promoted are demand-driven. SLARI will achieve this
through building and maintaining a culture that is based on outcome mapping of
research for better impact orientation and effective knowledge and information
management as well as quality service delivery as the hallmark of the nonresearch
part of the institution so as to meet and exceed clients’ expectations.
(iii) Partnerships for collaborative advantage and synergies: SLARI will pursue
productive and beneficial partnerships and strategic alliances with clearly
defined roles, responsibilities, governance and supportive mechanisms so as to
ensure effective collaboration and synergies that have a direct bearing on finding
innovative solutions to major agricultural sector problems. In this regard, SLARI
is committed to working with broad stakeholder categories and partners.
(iv) Respect for staff, clients and stakeholders and partners diversity: SLARI
recognizes that staff and stakeholders are critical resource in achieving its
Mission and is, therefore, committed to respecting staff and stakeholder diversity
with emphasis on mutual respect for individuals and assurance on equitable
recognition of their contribution. In this regard, SLARI is committed to ensuring
effective integration and teamwork across levels, disciplines, gender, timeframes
and space as well as timely and quick response to all staff and stakeholders’
concerns.
(v) Integrity, transparency, accountability and cost-effectiveness: SLARI is
committed to upholding virtues of integrity through honesty, fairness and
professionalism in all its operations while remaining committed to effective
and efficient utilization of all resources entrusted to the Institute in the most
transparent, accountable and cost-effective manner.
A team of scientists from the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) has shed new light on the country’s indigenous chicken breeds and their resistance to antibiotics. The study, recently published in the Journal of Fisheries, Livestock and Veterinary Science, examined 150 chickens from across Sierra Leone to understand both their physical traits and the risks posed by antibiotic resistance.
