In Sierra Leone’s Port Loko District, the women of Mother Mary Farming and Agricultural Services are demonstrating that sustainable agriculture can improve livelihoods while protecting nature. The women’s farming cooperative combines sustainable farming practices with fair wages for its members. The results are striking: what began in 2016 as a single 22-by-22-meter plot of tomatoes has grown into a thriving business spread across 50 hectares. Today, more than 1,500 women farmers make up the cooperative, supporting their families and investing in their communities.
At the center of this success is Mary Mani, widely known as Madam Mary, a former nurse who left her profession to pursue a different calling.
Profits from early harvests were reinvested to purchase more land, improve farming practices, and organize women farmers into the cooperative. Over the past decade, production has increased from 16,800 kilograms to 81,000 kilograms.
Initiatives like this demonstrate that in a country where food insecurity remains a major challenge, agricultural growth can be achieved in ways that strengthen communities, restore ecosystems, and build long-term resilience. It is an approach that meets today’s needs while creating conditions for future generations to thrive.
A Sierra Leonean Approach to Resilient Agriculture
Across Sierra Leone, communities have long relied on nature to sustain food production, livelihoods, and resilience. Nature-based solutions, which protect, restore, or sustainably manage ecosystems while addressing development challenges, are helping advance food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation. They are also helping communities strengthen livelihoods by investing in the natural capital that sustains agriculture, local economies, and long-term prosperity.
Many of these approaches are deeply rooted in local tradition. In Bombali and Tonkolili, farmers integrate moringa, cashew, and native fruit trees into their fields. In the Gola Forest landscape of Kenema, Pujehun, and Kailahun, communities cultivate cacao, pineapple, plantain, and banana in agroforestry systems. In Bo, wetland restoration is reviving traditional swamp rice cultivation, while coastal communities are restoring mangroves and managing fisheries to support livelihoods and protect shorelines.
