MoibayeimaMoibayeima community garden

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Sierra Leone

Eastern

The Moibayeima community garden is about 2.4 hectares and lies on the side of a hill. It was created by a group of 30 people who mainly grow vegetables: sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, broad beans, pumpkins, taro and local varieties such as sawa-sawa and krain-krain (a jute variety whose edible leaves are used in many Sierra Leone dishes). Part of the garden is also used to grow local medicinal plants, such as yumbuyambei, gbangba and njasui.
The used farming techniques are clean and sustainable: the soil is fertilized with compost, manure and ash. Crops are protected from rodents and other wild animals by fences and traps, and pests are kept away with indigenous techniques. An effective repellent against grasshoppers, for instance, is produced by grinding a few grasshoppers with chili leavers and adding water; the mixture is then filtered and the obtained liquid is sprayed on the plants. During the dry season, some plants are grown in the more humid areas in the valley.

Area
Moibayeina, eastern region

Coordinator
Patrick Mansaray

Slow Food in Sierra Leone

Agriculture is one of the main pillars of Sierra Leone’s economy and provides employment to around 75% of the population. The country has many natural resources and a favorable climate, but over the decades illegal mining and deforestation and large-scale monocultures have caused irreversible damage to many of the country’s natural ecosystems. The Slow Food network is mostly present in the eastern part of the country, between the Kenema and Kailahun districts. One of the most remote and rural regions, it borders Liberia and, to the north, Guinea. The area is famous for diamond mining and was the epicenter of the conflict during the civil war that ended in 2002, as well as one of the hotspots for the devastating Ebola epidemic 12 years later. The lush landscape is dotted with straw-roofed villages, and stretches of forest alternate with rice paddies, as well as many oil palm, coconut, cacao and coffee plantations. While most of the food sold in the supermarkets is imported, the local market stalls offer various types of rice (both local and imported), mountains of sweet potato, cassava and krain-krain leaves, ground peanuts, chilies, palm oil both industrial and artisanal, beans of different sizes, local potatoes, dried and fresh fish, meat and a wide variety of local fruit depending on the season. Slow Food has been working here since 2012. Thanks to the work of three local coordinators and the involvement of small-scale producers through the agroecological community, school and family food gardens and the Slow Food Kenema Kola Nut Presidium (in the three villages of Madina, Gegbwema and Darlu), activities are being run to raise awareness about local biodiversity and the importance of respect for the land, living in harmony with the environment and traditional cultures. The network also organizes educational activities with young people and schoolchildren and celebrations of conviviality with group meals, when the newly harvested produce is shared and toasted with typical beverages flavored with kola nuts and cacao water.

Garden Informations

Type:	Community Garden
Surface in m2:	24000
People involved:	70
Slow Food Convivium:	Gegbwema-Darlu Convivium
Coordinator:	Patrick Abu Mansaray
Sibling with:	Slow Food Russian River Convivium, USA

Photos