In more detail

The founders, Pan-African Agribusiness Limited, have been joined by two international finance institutions, African Agriculture Fund (AAF) and the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund) to carry out a project to build a new processing mill, to plant and maintain a nucleus plantation and to develop a system to support some 8,000 nearby oil palm farmers to grow, harvest and market their fruit.

At peak production Goldtree will be employing over 1,000 people and its purchasing and processing operation will put US$250,000 per month into the local economy which is currently dominated by unemployment and small scale subsistence farming in one of the poorest regions of the world.

The business also creates significant national development value for Sierra Leone by:

• creating jobs and contracting opportunities in the remote Kailahun District
• reducing the volume of edible oils imported into the country
• saving and earning foreign currency
• acting as a catalyst for the development of the commercial agricultural sector