The donated vehicle was meant to facilitate and ease the implementation of the project activities.
Falalo Touray, deputy director at the Department of Agriculture, who also doubles as coordinator of Cowpea Production Project, received the car keys from FAO Representative in The Gambia, Perpetua Katepa Kalala, at a presentation held at the FAO office in Fajara.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the FAO Rep, Perpetua Katepa-Kalala, said the 4X4 double pick-up vehicle was procured under the TCP project achieving sustainable cowpea production through the Ministry of Agriculture.
She noted that the project was for a period of two years with a total budget of two hundred and ninety-two thousand US dollar.
Perpetua Katepa-Kalala stated that the Technical Cooperation Program (TCP) was one of the FAO tools for contributing to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
The FAO-funded TCP projects respond effectively to issues that impact on the lives of the rural people.
The FAO Rep further stated that the target beneficiaries of the project are the smallholder women cowpea producers in rural communities and their families and the secondary beneficiaries would be urban population, especially the children and nursing mothers who would benefit from consuming improved cowpea-based protein diets.
She said the immediate target beneficiaries would be over 2300 women cowpea farmers and 100 field agricultural extension agents who would be trained as farmer facilitators to support women cowpea producers throughout the country.
She said men and women in the rural communities who are the direct or indirect beneficiaries of the assistant are also important partners in the implementation of the project in order to ensure the relevance of its objectives and the sustainability of its results.
“I wish to appreciate the special collaboration FAO the Gambia enjoy with the ministry of agriculture and by extension the Department of Agriculture and National Agricultural Research Institute in the formulation and implementation of this very important project,” she pointed.
Madam Katepa-Kalala thanked the government of the Gambia through the ministry of agriculture for the excellent relationship which FAO enjoy with its government partners.
She seized the opportunity to reaffirm FAO’s commitment to deepening its collaboration and cooperation with the Government of The Gambia.
Falalo Touray, deputy director at the Department of Agriculture, who also doubles as the coordinator of Cowpea Production Project, hailed FAO for the impressive and timely gesture.
Touary assured the FAO that the donated vehicle would be put into good use, adding that the FAO’s assistant to his department was exceptional.
