Bonthe Road Rehabilitation Begins After Decades of Neglect

For years, farmers in parts of Bonthe District watched their crops spoil before reaching the market as poor road conditions cut communities off from economic opportunities and essential services.

Bags of rice were carried on heads across muddy paths, pregnant women struggled through flooded roads to access health centres, and motorbikes frequently became trapped in deep mud, especially during the rainy season.

In some communities, residents say they waited nearly 50 years to witness meaningful road rehabilitation. Now, that long-awaited change is beginning to take shape.

More than 80 kilometres of feeder roads are currently being rehabilitated in Bonthe District through support from German Development Cooperation via KfW and implemented in partnership with the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA).

The intervention is aimed at reconnecting farming communities to markets and strengthening Sierra Leone’s agricultural economy.

The roads form part of wider efforts to improve rural connectivity in one of the country’s key rice-producing regions. Under the Government’s Feed Salone Strategy, Bonthe has been identified as a major rice production hub with significant agricultural potential.

For farmers in remote chiefdoms, the road works represent more than infrastructure development.

“When the rains came, we suffered,” one rice farmer in Bonthe said. “Vehicles could not enter, and our produce would stay in the villages. Sometimes we lost almost everything.”

Poor feeder roads have long remained one of the biggest obstacles to agriculture in Sierra Leone. Across many farming communities, deteriorating roads increase transport costs, reduce market access, and contribute to post-harvest losses. During heavy rains, some roads become nearly impassable, isolating entire communities from economic activity.

Project partners say the rehabilitation works are expected to improve transportation, reduce travel time, and help farmers move goods more efficiently from farms to markets. The roads are also expected to create jobs through labour-intensive construction methods involving local workers.

Bonthe’s strategic importance in the country’s food security agenda has grown in recent years. The Torma Bum Rice Corridor has been identified as one of the nation’s major agricultural clusters, with thousands of hectares targeted for rice cultivation under national agricultural transformation plans.

Government and development stakeholders believe improved rural roads are critical to unlocking that potential.

“Roads connect people as much as they connect goods,” a development official involved in the project noted. “Without access roads, farmers cannot fully benefit from their hard work.”

The rehabilitation initiative also reflects broader investments being made in rural infrastructure across Sierra Leone, where feeder roads are increasingly viewed as essential tools for reducing poverty and improving food security.

For many residents in Bonthe, however, the impact is already being felt in everyday life. Children may now reach school more easily, traders can travel with fewer risks, and farmers can finally dream of selling produce beyond their villages.

In communities that spent decades waiting for development to arrive, the sound of road construction machinery now carries something deeper than noise it carries possibility.