The Governor of North Bank Region, Lamin Queen
Jammeh, has applauded the African Development Bank for complementing
government’s food security and value chain efforts on food production and
productivity to attain its national food development agenda.
Governor Lamin Queen Jammeh was speaking on Wednesday in Kerewan at the launch of US$15.8 million project on Building Resilience Against Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel.
The project is being undertaken to contribute to reducing poverty and improving food and nutrition security in the Sahel.
The project would support in reducing malnutrition and addressing long-term “Zero Hunger” goals in the affected countries by 2032, the governor said.
Governor Jammeh also said The Gambia is among the most food insecure countries in the Sahel region, due to recurrent and high frequency of climate variation, which have induced high rate of crop failure and also reduced potential livestock grazing land.
The NBR Governor said the project is aligned to the Gambia National Agricultural Investment Plan (GNAIP), PAGE, Vision 2020 and Vision 2016, which seek to transform The Gambia into a self-food providing nation in the short term.
Bakary Jammeh, Knowledge Manager of Nema, in a PowerPoint presentation, said the $15.8 million project will support in strengthening existing livelihood support mechanism through investment in agricultural and livestock, infrastructure, integrated land management and ecosystem restoration as well as investment in the development of value chain for processing and marketing.
The sub-regional project, which will be implemented in the North Bank, Central River and Upper River Regions of The Gambia, will also be implemented in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad.
Deputizing for the project director, Banki Njie of the Nema project said Building Resilience Against Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel would contribute to increasing food production, productivity and poverty reduction.
He noted that the project would complement government’s commitment to eradication of hunger and improving lives and livelihood.
He called on farmers to support the implementation of project activities.
Alasan CMB Bah of Regional Agricultural Directorate in Kerewan, in his remarks, said his office
would support the smooth implementation of the project.
