Summary of contract

• Negotiation, representation, and other relevant context

  Agreement among three parties: i) Paramount Chief of Bureh Chiefdom representing the tribal authority of Bureh, Kasseh, and Maconteh Chiefdom ii) a group of individuals all of Port Loko District, (Lessors) and iii) Sierra Leone Agriculture, a limited liability company (Lessee) (Preamble). The Lessors agree to lease 41,582 hectares of land in Port Loko, for 50 years (Art. 1, Schedule). The Lessors warrant that they are the fee simple owners and persons entitled to lease the land (Art. 3). The agreement is renewable for 49 years under standard commercial terms (Art. 3). The schedule attached to the agreement contains the coordinates of 4 parcels of land.

• Governance, implementation, dispute resolution

  Sierra Leone Agriculture will permit the Lessors to inspect the leased land once a year (Art. 2). If Sierra Leone Agriculture is in arrears for 21 days or more and in the event of any breach of the covenants conditions and stipulations by the Sierra Leone Agriculture, the Lessors may re-enter the land provided that Sierra Leone Agriculture was given a reasonable period to remedy or rectify the breach. Sierra Leone Agriculture may assign this agreement to any other party without the prior consent and/or approval of the Lessors. Any dispute in connection with this agreement may be referred to arbitration, which shall be subject to the Arbitration Act of Sierra Leone (Art. 4).

• Fiscal obligations: content

  Sierra Leone Agriculture will pay in advance annual rent of $2 per hectare for the first 25 years of the agreement, totalling US$ 83,164 per year; for the second 25 years of the agreement Sierra Leone Agriculture will pay in advance annual rent of $2.50 per hectare, totalling US$103,995 per year (Art. 1). Sierra Leone Agriculture will pay into a community development fund, for the benefit of the local community at the end of every year, a royalty of 5% of its net profit. This royalty will be deposited into a communal account managed by the Paramount Chief, a Member of the Parliament, and 3 landowners (unless otherwise agreed), and Sierra Leone Agriculture shall appoint 2 representatives to the management body of the community fund (Art. 2).

• Community development obligations: Local content

  Sierra Leone Agriculture will use its reasonable endeavors to: employ local personnel in preference to an expatriate applying for the same vacancy, provided that the local person holds the required qualifications (Art. 2).

• Community development obligations: Infrastructure and social services

  Sierra Leone Agriculture will use its reasonable endeavours to: procure primary and secondary school education for the direct dependents of its employees; procure health care, housing, sanitation and drinking water to the reasonable benefit of its employees and their direct dependents. (Art 2).

• Environmental and social protection

  Where small settlements must be moved for the project, Sierra Leone Agriculture will consult with the Lessors and use reasonable endeavors to re-house any displaced people in appropriate housing within the locality. Sierra Leone Agriculture will, in consultation with the local authority, identify and demarcate traditional reserves and/or sacred grounds. Sierra Leone Agriculture will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that the project is run in an environmentally friendly manner (Art 2).