• Guinea, FAO sign $34.7M agriculture partnership for 2024-2028
• Program targets food systems, rural resilience, and production capacity
• Only half of Guinea’s arable land and 25% of irrigation potential used
  

Guinea and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed on Oct. 31, 2025, in Conakry a new Country Programming Framework (CPF) for 2024-2028, according to a statement from the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.

The CPF is a strategic document that sets the priorities for cooperation between the FAO and Guinea and serves as a roadmap for technical, financial, and institutional interventions in agriculture, food systems, forestry and fisheries.

Valued at $34.7 million, the five-year framework focuses on strengthening institutional and governance capacity, improving agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries production, and promoting resilience and social protection in rural areas.

Authorities said the program aligns with the government’s goals of modernizing agriculture, transforming food systems sustainably, and achieving food sovereignty. “This is not just a document but a promise to our farmers, one of a more modern, inclusive, and resilient agriculture,” said Agriculture Minister Mariama Ciré Sylla.

Guinea’s agricultural potential remains largely untapped. Official data show the country has about 6.2 million hectares of arable land, of which only half is cultivated each year. Although the nation’s irrigable potential is estimated at 364,000 hectares, FAO figures indicate that just 95,000 hectares were equipped for irrigation as of 2023, reflecting a mobilization rate of around 25 percent.

Stéphanas Assocle