The
Gambia government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) on 2 August 2016 restated their resolve to working together to
address the menace of whitefly in the country.
The
pledge was made at the signing ceremony of a project of twenty million four
hundred thousand dalasis (equivalent to US$459,000) designed to effectively
control the devastation of fruit trees, vegetables and ornamental plants by the
whitefly in The Gambia.
Hon.
Sherriffo Bojang, deputy Minister of Agriculture and Dr Perpetua Katepa-Kalala,
FAO Representative in The Gambia signed on behalf of the government and FAO
respectively, at a brief ceremony held at the conference room of the Ministry
of Agriculture in Banjul.
Falalo
Touray, Director General at the Department of Agriculture, who chaired the
ceremony, and Landing Sonko, Deputy Director, Plant Protection Services, both
welcomed and applauded the FAO intervention.
They
highlighted the devastating impact of the whitefly on The Gambia`s food
security and poverty reduction efforts.
