Cassava Women – Food, Labour, and Survival in Rural Sierra Leone

About the project

This project combines field observation, academic research, agricultural data, and lived experience to explore cassava not just as a crop, but as a system of survival in rural Sierra Leone.I examine how cassava work shapes women’s lives, income, and resilience; from food security and climate adaptation to informal economies and gendered labour. Drawing on FAO data, regional agricultural studies, and firsthand encounters, the story situates cassava within the wider West African context while grounding it in the lived experience of women like Madam Bao in Kailahun.