Agricultural investment and rural transformation: a case study of the Makeni bioenergy project in Sierra Leone

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the Makeni bioenergy project in Sierra Leone, developed by Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone (ABSL). It analyzes the project's impact on rural transformation, focusing on how a large-scale agro-industrial investment affects livelihoods, infrastructure, and socio-economic conditions in a region characterized by high poverty and limited government capacity.

• The Makeni Project is a 400 million EUR investment featuring a roughly 10,000 ha sugarcane estate and a distillery designed to produce approximately 85,000 m3 of ethanol annually for export to the EU, as well as 15 MW of electricity for the national grid.
• ABSL implemented a Farmer Development Programme (FDP) to mitigate crop losses from land concessions by establishing community fields for rice production and a pilot vegetable garden programme. Additionally, about 2,000 people participated in Farmer Field and Life Schools, a 30-week course covering farming practices and life skills.
• The project has significantly impacted local infrastructure and demographics, constructing an estimated 440 km of roads as of June 2014 and triggering an influx of migrants. This has led to a 37% increase in new houses in project villages between October 2013 and April 2014, though it has also caused price inflation and increased competition for water and food.
• While the project created 3,455 jobs by December 2014, local hiring was hindered by a lack of necessary skills. Employment is heavily skewed by gender, with women making up only 10% of the workforce as of December 2014.
• Field research revealed extreme poverty in the study area, with a 62% likelihood of households living on less than 0.50 USD per day and 90% relying on rainfed subsistence agriculture. Severe food shortages were reported in August, and frequently in June and September.
• The report highlights a gap between private investment and public sector support, noting that the government of Sierra Leone has failed to supplement ABSL's infrastructure, such as by building small road links to connect villages to the ABSL network.
• Following the Ebola outbreak in May 2014, Addax Bioenergy SA and AOG announced a decision to downscale the Makeni operation and conduct a review of future options due to the impact of the outbreak and other unforeseeable events on costs and revenues.

APA

Fielding, M., Davis, M., Weitz, N., Cummings-John, I., Hickey, A., Johnson, F. X., Senyagwa, J., Martinez, L., & Sun, M. (2015). Agricultural investment and rural transformation: a case study of the Makeni bioenergy project in Sierra Leone. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PR-2015-09-Makeni-Project-ES.pdf

Chicago

Fielding, Matthew, Marion Davis, Nina Weitz, Ival Cummings-John, Amanda Hickey, Francis X. Johnson, Jacqueline Senyagwa, Lidia Martinez, and Miaojie Sun. Agricultural investment and rural transformation: a case study of the Makeni bioenergy project in Sierra Leone. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PR-2015-09-Makeni-Project-ES.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{fielding2015agricultural, author = {Fielding, Matthew and Davis, Marion and Weitz, Nina and Cummings-John, Ival and Hickey, Amanda and Johnson, Francis X. and Senyagwa, Jacqueline and Martinez, Lidia and Sun, Miaojie}, title = {{Agricultural investment and rural transformation: a case study of the Makeni bioenergy project in Sierra Leone}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PR-2015-09-Makeni-Project-ES.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }