Sierra Leone's Cassavity Spotlights Agrifood Innovation
Cassavity SL Limited, a Sierra Leonean agrifood enterprise, showcased its cassava flour production initiative at the 2026 Africa Science and Innovation Forum (ASIF) held from October 27 to 29 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The three-day summit highlighted local agricultural processing as a vital engine for boosting food security, generating guaranteed markets for smallholder farmers, and curbing post-harvest losses across West Africa.
Delivering a key presentation titled “Scaling High Quality Cassava Flour Production to Strengthen Food Security and Transform Agrifood Value Chains in Sierra Leone,” Cassavity Chief Executive Officer Francis John Sesay urged leaders to help agricultural startups transition from initial pilots into sustainable commercial operations.
“One of the important reflections from the summit was that seed funding alone does not lead to scale,”
the company noted, emphasizing that unlocking the sector's full potential requires robust infrastructure, market access, and long-term institutional investment.
The participation of Cassavity was made possible through support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), specifically supported by the FAO HASTEN Project team led by Daniel Alpizar Rojas and Hajnalka Petrics. Cassavity reaffirmed its commitment to driving agricultural value addition and long-term economic impact in Sierra Leone.
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