The
Department of Agriculture, last Tuesday handed over seventy shines hoes and one
hundred sickles of farm implement to regional Agricultural directors for onward
transmission to the farmers in NBR, CRR-North and South and URR.
The
provision of the equipment target to boost agricultural production and productivity
in the country. The equipment was
provided through the support of the P2RS Project under NEMA.
The
shines hoes and sickles are Gambia-made and procured by the department of
agriculture. The provision of the equipment is meant to address the plight of
Gambian farmers.
The
equipment was handed to directors at Cape Point in Bakau, attended by various
staff of the department of agriculture.
Deputy
administrator of the department of agriculture, Lamin Darboe said the primary
focus of the department is the welfare of the farmers in a bid to improve their
livelihood.
Famara
Trawally, regional agriculture Director of CRR-South, said P2RS is an African
Development Bank and Gambia government funded project.
He
said the project is managed by NEMA consortium, saying principally, the project
has been helping the department of agriculture with two key interventions of
capacity building, and the provision of inputs.
He
said this is a resilient project as climate change continues to threaten life
and the environment. “We are all aware of what climate change entails and we
need to build the resilience of affected countries like The Gambia,” he said,
adding that the project came to support countries that are vulnerable to
climate change.
According
to him, P2RS came with conservation agriculture and it conducted series of
agriculture extension training for farmers in all the four benefitted
regions. He said the project targets to
promote the findi crop.
Director
General of the Department of Agriculture, Dr. Saikou Sanyang said farming
implements were the major concern of the farmers but thanks to the agriculture
projects like FASDEP and Nema, the concerns are addressed.
Dr
Sanyang said ninety-four shines hoes will be handed over to findi growers in
the four intervention regions. He said the department also considers other
regions like LRR and West Coast Region.
We are also handing over one hundred sickles
to the regional directors for onward transmission to the farmers to boost their
production and productivity. He said the objectives of this support by the Nema
P2RS climate component is to address some of the issues that farmers had been
complaining about, such as the provision of small farm implementations.
He also said the objectives is to help the
farmers to increase their production and productivity because giving out farm
implement to farmers means you are strengthening them .He also stated that this
farm implement will also help them in their timely operation of findi
production not only findi as a crop but also other food crop .He also stated
that findi is a healthy diet in the sense that it cure some of the
non-communicable disease.
He
also stated that boosting the production and productivity of findi will go a
long way in increasing the income and nutritional security of our farmers, so
this is a step in the right direction.