Sierra Leone’s push to transform West Africa’s rice sector received a major financial boost this week, with the proposed regional Rice Investment Facility securing a landmark US$100 million commitment at the Africa Food Systems Forum.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), announced the pledge during importantly roundtable on Scaling Innovative Finance for Competitive Rice Value Chains, co-facilitated by the Gates Foundation and led by Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, who represented President Julius Maada Bio. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka, also led the delegation.
The US$100 million commitment is the first major anchor investment toward the proposed US$500 million West Africa Rice Investment Facility. Organizers said the roundtable also drew several expressions of interest and soft commitments from other Development Finance Institutions and international partners, signalling strong potential for additional capital as the facility is finalized.
Officials said the facility is designed to tackle one of the biggest constraints holding back West Africa’s rice industry: the lack of affordable, long-term financing for millers, aggregators and other private-sector operators.
Under the proposed structure, the facility will blend different forms of capital, credit guarantees and technical assistance to de-risk investment and unlock lending across the rice value chain, from production and aggregation to processing and market access.
“The goal is simple. We need to move from pledges to processing plants, from imports to integrated value chains,” a senior member of the Sierra Leone delegation said. “This facility gives the private sector the long-term capital it has been asking for.”
For Sierra Leone, the announcement directly supports President Bio’s flagship Feed Salone program, which aims to achieve rice self-sufficiency and cut the country’s food import bill.
Government officials noted that the regional facility complements substantial domestic investments already underway in rice production zones, irrigation, land development, processing clusters, feeder roads and market infrastructure.
Chief Minister Sengeh said the commitment validates Sierra Leone’s leadership on regional food systems reform and positions the country to attract more private capital into agriculture.
The roundtable is expected to build momentum ahead of the West Africa Integration and Investment Summit, which Sierra Leone will host in Freetown on 17–18 November 2026. Government officials said the summit will be used to finalize partnerships and close financing for the rice facility and other regional agribusiness projects.
The Sierra Leone delegation will continue engagements throughout AFSF 2026, with a focus on securing further partnerships for Feed Salone and the country’s broader agricultural transformation agenda.
With West Africa spending billions of dollars annually on rice imports, officials say a functioning regional financing vehicle could be pivotal in shifting production, reducing post-harvest losses, and making locally milled rice competitive across the region.