This development came to light Thursday during government and FAO’s inception workshop. The money is meant to support the Ministry of Agriculture to embark on a venture that would help foster global partnership to accelerate growth and development in the agricultural sector.
A statement read on behalf of the FAO country representative, Ms Moshibudi Rampedi, deputy FAO country rep, Dr. Mustapha M. Ceesay, explained that the initiative came as a result of the minister’s request to the Director General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation.
Dr. Ceesay added that the partnership venture was called the ‘Hand-in-Hand Initiative’, “and as the name implies, the initiative was a targeted and collective, all-hands-on-deck action for sustainable agricultural transformation.”
“Through the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, FAO would work together with its member countries to ensure that all those advances were brought together in a consolidated and comprehensive approach to benefit The Gambia agriculture”, Dr. Ceesay said.
Dr Ceesay further stated that the initiative would promote market-oriented approaches that would target those most in need and make it possible for government institutions, development partners, national agricultural research systems, academia, the private sector, and civil society organisations to work together within the same framework.
Fatou Jammeh, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, pointed out that the Hand-in-Hand Initiative aims to minimise risks and optimise benefits by enhancing productive capacities, aligning agrifood systems to new market opportunities, and strengthening capacities of the value chain stakeholders to effectively participate in existing markets.
DPS Jammeh further said that the Hand-in-Hand Initiative (HiHI) was developed to support food systems transformation to enhance informed planning and decision-making for investment and commercialisation.
“The initiative is in line and is going to avail The Gambia the opportunity to implement the key milestones along the timeline of the Pathway by 2030,” DPS Jammeh explained.
She highlighted that the government and its development partners adopted relevant policies and actionable programmes to achieve the set milestones especially increasing food production to 100% and linkage to markets and involvement and support to private sector sustainable exploitation of the country's Natural Resource base on land and in water.
