For
Gambia to enhance food security, agricultural strategies and project
implementation must be linked to attain food security and reduce poverty, the
Agriculture Ministry’s permanent secretary Sait Drammeh said.
“Enhancing
food security will take [a] national vision and local action,” he told the 2016
Nema project consultative forum on Wednesday at Jenoi, Lower River Region
(LRR).
The
National Agricultural Land and Water Management Project (Nema), which phases
out in 2019, seeks to support increased agricultural production, improve
farmers’ income, expand rural employment, and reduce food insecurity and rural
poverty.
Speaking
through a representative, Mr Drammeh said the annual forum should be a standard
practice for all projects because it serves as a platform to share progress,
challenges and solutions.
Abou
Njie, deputy governor of LRR, said the forum has built on last year’s
challenges for the 2017 work plan.
Nema
Project director, Momodou Gassama, said it is important for the participants to
contribute fully in the sessions to further the implementation process of the
project.
He
said more of the work of the Nema project would continue along providing access
roads to rice fields, constructing water retention dykes in rice fields,
markets among other interventions.
The
Nema project is designed to build on the achievements and experiences of
earlier IFAD-supported projects in the agricultural sector.
The
total cost of the project is $84.1 million with IFAD financing up to $39.4
million, making it the IFAD’s biggest single intervention.
