www.landmatrix.org

LARGE SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS PROFILE

SIERRA LEONE

• entailatransferofrightstouse,controlorownlandthroughsale,leaseorconcession.

• haveanintendedsizeof200hectares(ha)orlarger.• havebeenconcludedsincetheyear2000.• areaffectedbyachangeofuse (often fromextensiveor

ecosystemserviceprovisiontocommercialuse).• includedealsforagriculture,forestryandotherintentions-

excludingminingoperations.

TheobjectiveofthiscountryprofileistopresentLSLAdataatnationalleveltoabroadpanelofstakeholders,stimulatingbroadengagement and data exchange, facilitating the continuousimprovement of the data. The data used in this profile wasdownloadedon9September2016.1

This country profile presents the Land Matrix data for Sierra Leone, detailing large-scale landacquisition(LSLA)transactionsthat:

TAbLE OF CONTENTSTable 1:SierraLeone’skeysocio-economicandinstitutionalindicators

Basic socio-economic characTerisTics

Population(million,2015)¹ 6.45

Totalland(‘000hectares)2 7,23

Totalarableland(‘000hectares)2 5,42

Totalarableland(asa%oftotalland) 75

ContributionofagriculturetoGDP(2014,%)¹ 59.2

Foodimports(%ofmerchandiseimports,2010)3 10.97

Foodexports(%ofmerchandiseexports,2010)4 4.04

insTiTuTional VariaBles

Politicalstabilityindex(2014)5 -0.22

Voiceaccountabilityindex(2014)5 -0.31

Governmenteffectivenessindex(2014)5 -1.22

Controlofcorruptionindex(2014)5 -0.95

Investorprotectionrank(2014)5 22

Aimofinvestment

Overviewoflargescalelandacquisitions

InvestorsandInvestorcountries

Formerlanduse,tenureandowners

Potentialbenefitsandimpacts

3

5

6

7

7 ¹TheWorldBank,http://data.worldbank.org/country/sierra-leone²FAOCountryPastureResourceprofile,SierraLeone,http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/counprof/Sierraleone/Sierraleone.htm³IndexMundi,SierraLeone,FoodImports,http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/sierra-leone/food-imports4IndexMundi,SierraLeone,FoodExports,http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/sierra-leone/food-exports5TheGlobalEconomy,SierraLeone,http://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Sierra-Leone/wb_voice_accountability/

1LandMatrixSierraLeonedealsdatabase:clickhere(31transnationaldealsand3domesticdeals)

ConCluded land deals for agriCulture and forestry in sierra leone

SIERRA LEONE

Gbanti

Bureh Town

Imperi

PujehunZimmi

Bo

Makeni

Tonkolili

Kenema Daru

Koindu

Kailahun

Pendembu

Pandebu

Bonthe

Blama

PangumaBoajibu

Barma

Kaima Yengema

KoiduBumpe

Magburaka

Binkolo

Lunsar

Mile Ninetyone

Gandorhun

Moyamba

Kabala

Falaba

Kamakwie

Kununa

Kambia

Rokupr

Lungi

Goderich

Waterloo

Shenge

Turtle Is

Banana Is Kambui Hills Forest Reserve

Yoni

Masimera

Port Loko

Masama

Kono

Koya

Startup phase (no production) In operation (production) Project abandoned No informationProject not started

OvERvIEw OF LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS

Table 2:Dynamicsofinternationallarge-scalelandacquisitionsaccordingtonegotiationstatus.

numBer of Deals

inTenDeD size (hecTares)

conTracT size (hecTares)

size unDer conTracT

(% of inTenDeD size)

ContractSigned 23 881230 647999 73.53

OralAgreement 1 126000 126000 100

concluded 24 1 007 230 773 999 76.84

ExpressionofInterest 3 711900 n.a n.a

UnderNegotiation 4 690117 n.a n.a

intended 7 1 402 017 n.a n.a

Failed(Negotiationsfailed) 0 0 n.a n.a

Failed(Contractcancelled) 0 0 n.a n.a

failed 0 0 n.a n.a

• Atotalof773999haareundercontractbyforeigninvestors,equaling1.43%ofthetotalarablelandinSierraLeone.

• Concluded deals are smaller in size than their originalintention(obtained76.84%oftheintendedsize).

• The largemajority of concluded deals are leaseholds for5 — 50 years (84% of cases with information on leaseduration).

• The deals which are still under negotiation commencednegotiation from2007—2012,while the deals inwhichtherewasanexpressionof interest commenced in2011—2013;itisnotclearatthisstagewhetherthesedealswillbeconcluded.

• TherearenorecordsoffaileddealsinSierraLeone.

Table 3:Numberofconcludeddealsaccordingtocontractsize(hectares).

size unDer conTracT (ha) frequency

<5000 11

10000—50000 9

80000 1

120000—130000 3

ToTal 24

• Concludeddealsvarygreatlyinsize,rangingfrom110hato126 000ha.

• 12.5%of theconcludeddealsare larger than100000haandaccountfor47%ofthetotalareaofconcludeddeals.

• Just over half of the concluded deals are active (start-upphaseandinoperation).

• Thesedealswerebroughtintooperationwithintwoyearsofsigningtheinitialcontract.

• 2 deals have been abandoned stating multiple reasons;labourdisputes,pooryield,fundingforprojectwithdrawnandexporttimberban.

• Only 5.9% of the area under contract is currently underproduction(onlycaseswithknownareaunderproduction).

• Foreign land acquisitions started in 2006 and peaked in2010and2011,bothintermsofnumberofdealsandsizeundercontract.

• In2011,8dealswereconcludedcovering198000ha.

• The largestdealwasconcluded in2010byaPortugueseinvestor, with a size under contract of 126 000ha foragrifuel,foodandagri-unspecifiedcrops.

Table 4:Concludeddealsaccordingtoimplementationstatus.

implemenTaTion sTaTus numBer of concluDeD

Deals

size unDer conTracT (ha)

aVerage size unDer

conTracT (ha)

currenT size unDer

proDucTion (ha)

aVerage size unDer

proDucTion (ha)

Projectnotyetstarted 3 100218 33406 n.a n.a

Start-upPhase 2 21110 10555 n.a n.a

InOperation 11 440194 40018 16152† 2019

Projectabandoned 2 45000 22500 10000° 10000

Noinformation 6 167477 27913 n.a n.a

ToTal 24 773 999 32 250 26 152 2905.78

†N=8deals°N=1deal,sizebeforeabandonment

figure 2:Concludeddealsovertime(2000to2015).

size

und

er c

ontr

act (

hect

ares

)

num

ber

of d

eals

con

clud

ed

NumberofdealsconcludedSizeunderContract

250000

8

10

200000

6150000

4100000

250000

00

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

year

Note:8dealswereexcludedastheyearthecontractwasagreedisunknown.

INvESTORS AND INvESTOR COUNTRIES

Table 5: Investorcountries(concludeddeals).2

inVesTor counTries size unDer conTracT (ha)

numBer of Deals

concluDeD

UnitedKingdomofGreatBritainandNorthernIreland

187356 6

Portugal 126000 1

UnitedStatesofAmerica 120000 1

India 80903 2

Singapore 80000 1

Canada 46255 1

Switzerland 44000 1

Netherlands 41418 2

UnitedArabEmirates 21000 1

Luxembourg 17812 1

China 7345 4

Nigeria 1000 1

Mauritius 800 1

Finland 800 1

VietNam 110 1

Germany 110 1

• Overall24investorsfrom16investorcountriesareengagedinLSLAsinSierraLeone.

• Investors fromUnitedKingdomareengaged in themostdeals covering the largest area. Chinese investors areinvolved in the secondhighestnumberofdealsbut at amuchsmallersize.

• An investor fromPortugal is involved in thesingle largestdealpersizeundercontract.

• African investorsdonotplaya large role in landdeals inSierraLeone;onlytwodealswithinvolvementbyinvestorsfromNigeriaandMauritius.

• None of the deals by foreign investors engage domesticinvestors.

Table 6: Dynamicsofdealsbyinvestortype(concludeddeals).3

inVesTor Type size unDer conTracT (ha)

numBer of Deals

concluDeD

PrivateCompany 537713 14

StockExchange-ListedCompany 22157 3

InvestmentFund 1250 1

NoInformation 215379 7

• PrivateCompaniesarethemajortypeofinvestorsinSierraLeone,followedbystockexchange-listedcompanies.

• The investor type of many investors is not known(noinformation).

2Incaseswhereinvestorsfrommultiplecountriesareinvolved,thedealandthetotalsizeofthedealisassignedtoallinvestors.Thustotalnumberofconcludeddealsandsizescanbelargerthantable1.3Incaseswhereadealinvolvesinvestorsfromdifferentinvestortypes,thedealandthefullsizeofthedealisassignedtoeachinvestortype.

AIm OF INvESTmENT4

Number of deals

37%FoodCrops

Forestry14%

Agri-unspecified26%Agri-unspecified30%

Non-foodagriculturalcommodities3% 14%Agrifuel

Renewableenergy6%

Current size under contract

19%FoodCropsForestry24%

23%Agrifuel

1% Non-foodagriculturalcommodities

Renewableenergy3%

• Food crops concern a large number of projects (37%),howeverasmallcorrespondingsizeundercontract(19%).

• Deals for the production of agri-unspecified crops (allfor production of oil palm) cover the largest size undercontract(30%).

• Agrifueland forestrydeals involvea largeportionof thesizeundercontractbutasmallercorrespondingnumberofdeals.

figure 3: Aimofinvestment(concludeddeals).5

• The majority of deals are in operation for all intentions,exceptrenewableenergy.

• Projectsforfoodcrops,agrifuelcrops,forestryandrenewableenergyhavebeenabandoned.

Sizeundercontract

Inoperation(production)

Projectnotstarted

Noinformation

Totalnumberofdeals

Projectabandoned

4Intentionofinvestmentsinclude:foodcropsonly,agrifuelcropsonly,non-foodcropsonly(e.g.cottonortobacco),agri-unspecifiedcrops—cropswhichcanbeusedformultiplepurposes(mostlypalmoil),renewableenergy,forestry,livestock(includingfisheries)andotherintentions.TherearenodealsconcludedforlivestockandotherintentionsinSierraLeone.⁵Note:Individualdealslistuptothreedifferentintentions.Wecountthenumberoftimesanintentionismentioned.For24dealswereport35intentions.Thesizeundercontractisequallydividedbythenumberofintentions

figure 4: ConcludedLandacquisitionsbycategoryofproduction,accordingtoimplementationstatus.

size

und

er c

ontr

act (

hect

ares

)

num

ber

of d

eals

con

clud

ed

10

8

6

4

2

14

0

12

250000

300000

350000

400000

450000

200000

150000

100000

50000

0FoodCrops Agrifuel Non-food

agriculturalcommodities

Agri-unspecified Forestry Renewableenergy

FORmER LAND USE, TENURE AND OwNERS

Table 7:Formerlanduseforconcludeddeals.

POTENTIAL bENEFITS AND ImPACTS

• Most cases involve both domestic use of produce andexport.

• Destinationofproduceisnotknowninanumberofcases(noinformation).

figure 5: Thedestinationofproductionfromconcludeddeals.

num

ber

of c

oncl

uded

Dea

ls

8

10

12

6

4

2

0DomesticuseonlyExportonly Both Noinformation

former use size unDer conTracT (ha)

concluDeD Deals

Smallholderagriculture 231894 5

Commercial(large-scale)agriculture 41966 3

Combination* 41218 1

Forestry 22000 2

NoInformation 436921 13

• Mostconcludeddeals,forwhichformerlanduseisknown,haveacquiredlandthatwasformerlyusedforsmallholderagriculture(29.9%ofthetotalsizeundercontact).

• Themajorityofformerlandownerswereprivatepartiesorcommunities,wherethisinformationisknown.

• Formeruseinformationisnotknownformanyofthedeals.

*Smallholderagricultureandcommercialagriculture

Table 8:ContractFarminginconcludeddeals.

conTracT farming numBer of Deals numBer of farmers conTracT size (hecTares)Yes 4 12800 30115 Not on the lease 4 12 800† 30 115*

No 9 n.a n.aNoInformation 11 n.a n.a

†Numberofdeals=3,*N=2

• Themajority of concluded deals do not involve contractfarming,wherethisinformationisknown.

• Dataoncommunityconsultationandreactionistooscarcetoprovidemeaningfulinformation.

• Communitybenefitspromisedundertheprojectsincluded;education,financialsupport,health,roads,capacitybuildingandproductiveinfrastructure.

• It isnot clear towhatextent thebenefitspromisedhavebeendelivered.

DATA FIELDS wHICH wERE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS COUNTRy PROFILE DUE TO A LACK OF DATA

Please help us enhance the data, by contributing to the following fields:• In-countryprocessingactivities• WaterUsage• Numberofprojectswithreportedevictions• Involvementofthecommunityinpre-contractnegotiations• Compensationreceivedbycommunities• Actualcommunitybenefits• ForeignandDomesticEmployment(plannedandactual)

CONTRIbUTE!Thepurpose of theCountry Profile brief is to enhancedataanddataquality.Pleasehelpus toachieve thisbydirectlycontributingto:www.landmatrix.org

HOw TO CONTRIbUTEIfyouwouldliketocomment,contributetothedata,orobtainadditionalinformation.• ContacttheLandMatrixdirectlyon

www.landmatrix.org• Addcommentsonexistinglanddeals

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Contributed to this country profile:AngelaHarding,WytskeChamberlain

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