This project will apply and improve best practices for climate-smart agriculture and build smallholder climate resilience through agricultural value chain technics development, skills formation, and livelihood support. It is a life changing initiative in tackling the effect of climate change by addressing issues around deforestation and land degradation in Pujehun district. It is timely because although agriculture is the mainstay of Sierra Leone's economy and employs about two-thirds of the population, smallholder farming families across the country demonstrate the highest levels of poverty, at about 80 per cent. The approach to farming, mostly on uplands with little care for environmental resources, is considered a key reason for declining levels of food and environmental security. In Pujehun District, for example, the main staple crops- rice and cassava- are mainly cultivated upland along forested slopes. The upland inland valley in these areas is a very dynamic agro-ecology

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suitable not only for food crop production but also as an area with a high risk of degradation of the land resource and a depletion of the catchment?s water resources; all of which can have a severe impact on the human environments, as well as the local landscape and ecology.
The smallholder farming approach in common use, shifting cultivation, contributes significantly to forest loss and is considered the main cause of land degradation. The traditional land practices exacerbated by poverty and associated with a lack of technical knowledge are the main triggers to the continuation of unsustainable shifting cultivation in the region. Population pressure, inadequate land for cultivation, low literacy, poor planning, and top-down farming models are all factors that undercut farmers? abilities to address the concerns that come from shifting cultivation, including deforestation and land degradation. The long-term result of current practices is climate change, which affected communities are less likely to tackle because of low adaptive capacity. This lack of adaptive capacity will have consequences for local food security, agricultural productivity, water availability and utility, community and ecosystem health, and efforts to manage natural resources and conserve biodiversity. These effects will, in turn,
Profoundly undermine economic growth and social stability across communities and the country more broadly.
What this project proposes, therefore, is climate-smart Sustainable Land Management (SLM) through vegetable production, value addition and Agribusiness development, putting women and youth at the center of production. The approach is a promising alternative for sustainably managing the remaining forest cover, enhancing local livelihoods, building adaptive capacity, and reducing land degradation (including changes in land cover, land productivity, and soil organic carbon). Where fully implemented, the approach can yield high and sustainable economic returns, and thus, provide employment and alleviate rural poverty. The access to agriculture income will also help in dealing with water stress and addressing the risks and impacts of climate change because farming households will have more access to thriving markets, learning opportunities, credit facilities etc that can be utilized to improve infrastructure, raise awareness, and ultimately build resilience.

Primary Objectives:
To reduce poverty by enhancing skill development in agriculture, Agric-value addition through vegetable production and Agricbusiness for employment and income generation of women and youth living in Pujehun district aiming at reducing deforestation and improving land management.

Specific Objectives
1.To Strengthened project ownership, and sustainability through inclusive decisions and participation.
2.To Improved Agric skills and value addition training delivered resulting in increased in vegetable production and improved living standard of youth and women.

3.To Improved programme delivery and linkages for support for persons with disability resulting in reducing discrimination in the rights and support to persons living with disability
The environmental protection trainings will mainstream COVID-19 protocols during training sessions with specific focus on environmental consideration practices related to health safety measures.

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