The
Ministry of Agriculture recently came out outstanding among the 10 countries in
Africa that benefited from agricultural projects funded by Global Agriculture
and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) and supervised by the African Development
Bank (AfDB).
The
annual GAFSP portfolio review meeting was held in Lusaka, Zambia.
The
GAFSP funded The Gambia Food and Agriculture Sector Development Project
(FASDEP) through a grant of USD 26.6 million and during the review in Lusaka,
the FASDEP was categorised as non-Potentially Problematic Project (NPPP) and
stands out as one among the closing projects that completed most of the
targeted intervention activities and would not return the much needed
undisbursed grant funds to GAFSP. As a result of the impressive performance of
The Gambia FASDEP, the permanent secretary was given an award and The Gambia
was selected to host the next review meeting in 2021.
According
to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, the main objective of FASDEP was
to reduce rural household poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition through
increased agricultural production, productivity and commercialisation. FASDEP
intervened in land development, construction / rehabilitation of feeder roads,
and construction of livestock markets and stalls linking producers to markets.
Under
component two, FASDEP supported 29 Aquaculture schemes (a total of 100 fish
ponds), 31 small ruminant fattening, 20 small ruminant breeding, 10 commercial
poultry for FBOs and 15 for schools, supported 60 backyard poultry farmers with
improved housing, 27 women gardens, 60 school gardens and over 100
agro-enterprises benefited from the matching grant.
Under
component three, in collaboration with WFP, FASDEP funded the school feeding
programme in 101 schools in Regions 2 and 3; and through NaNA, the project
supported the review and funded the printing of nutrition education materials
now being used in schools across the country, as well as supplied assorted
antibiotics to the central medical stores for the treatment of malnourished
children. The project supported the establishment of 10 seed and cereal banks
and four regional stock piles for emergency use.
In
a related development, The Gambia was awarded USD 16 million grant by GAFSP
under the special call for proposals (the 5th call) in 2019, also to be
supervised by the AfDB and to be implemented in collaboration with World Food
Programme (WFP) and other stakeholders.
The
delegation to Lusaka comprised Momodou Mbye Jabang, the permanent secretary at
the Ministry of Agriculture, Kebba L. Jarju FASDEP Project director and other
officials.
