The Gambia Emergency Agricultural Production Project, (GEAPP) on Monday commenced a five-day training of trainers for Agricultural field staff across the country.
The training, funded by the World Bank and the Gambia Government, was also attended by all the regional agricultural directors in the country.
The training of trainers focused on building the capacity of the field staff on the collection of correct data, production and proper management.
In his welcoming remarks, the regional director of Agriculture for West Coast Region, Ebrima Saidy, said the aim of bringing all their staff together was to enhance their capacity in the way in which they collect data at the field level.
He also said a concern was raised during one of the GEAPP meetings concerning the need to train field staff on data collection and from there they took up the matter.
Mr Saidy added that following that request, the GEAPP has taken it upon itself to organize the refreshers’ training of trainers to build the capacity of field staff.
He also stressed the significance of the training whilst urging the participants to make good use of the knowledge gained from the training as “without data there will be no proper planning in any system”.
“Access to quality data is essential and key in our daily work,” he added.
He also told the participants to put it at the back of their mind that data collection should be a priority.
In his speech, the project coordinator of GEAPP, Sheikh Tijan Sosseh, expressed delight at the positive response of participants to their invitation.
The project coordinator reminded the gathering that the project was funded by the EC, the World Bank and the
Mr Sosseh said the project was re-orientation training in the sense that participants are drawn from the department of Agriculture across the country and have undergone many training
“This is a sharing and exchanging of ideas on and mapping the way forward to see how to collect correct and quality data in our daily work,” he said.
“It is also to see how best participants can improve themselves on how to collect and manage data.”
The project was also to enhance the capacity of all the department of Agriculture field staff across the country, he added.
He thanked the World Bank and the Gambia Government for funding the project.
The deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Asheme Cole, in his remarks on the occasion, also said: “Bringing all the field staff to support the GEAPP and organizing a five-day training for them is really a step in the right direction.”
Mr Cole then used the occasion to advise the participants to utilize the knowledge gained during the training.
He added: “Without accurate data, we will find it difficult to pave the way forward in our day-to-day work”.