(Thursday 17 October 2019 Issue)
The
equipment include 50 power tillers, 50 rice milling machines, 100 rice
threshers, 10 pumping machines for rice production and 100 tarpaulins of
various sizes, among other equipment.
These
items were fully purchased by the Japanese Government through its funded
Kennedy Round 2 (KR2) project to support underprivileged Gambian farmers.
At
the handing over ceremony in Banjulinding, agriculture minister Amie Fabureh
said the Japanese government provided the grant assistance for the food
security project for underprivileged farmers to help increase production of food
crops and livestock in developing countries where there is food shortage.
She
said from the proceeds of food aid, agriculture equipment such as machinery,
seeds and fertilizer are purchased to help in strengthening the capacity and
resilience of the farming community.
“The
project was formulated based on crop and livestock farmers who continuously
grappled with declining rains and degrading soil fertility issues, poor access
to agricultural input and machinery, thus resorting to traditional means of
production which are characterised by low output and drudgery,” she stated.
Minister
Fabureh maintained that the project is crucial to The Gambia’s economy, given
the fact that agriculture employs over 70% of the population and more than half
of them are women.
The
objective of the project, she explained, is to increase production and
productivity of key targeted agricultural value chains in line with the ANR
policy and the NDP through the provision of equipment, materials, seed e.g
vegetables, groundnut, drugs and vaccines geared towards improving livestock
production and productivity.
She
assured the Japanese Government that the equipment would be put to good use
since a sustainability mechanism in the form of a business model plan has been
put in place.
