“The event is more important at this moment than ever because of the double negative effects of climate change and covid-19,” the Minster said. She said the covid-19 pandemic has brought to light many vulnerabilities and inequalities in food system in The Gambia. Amie Fabureh noted that the lockdown has hampered farmer’s ability to have access to inputs, access to hire labour and market to sell their products. She observed that the covid-19 strategy implemented in 2020 has gone a long way in building resilience and improving food and nutrition security of the small-holder farmers.
The Agriculture minister applauded partners like IFAD, FAO, WFP, Japanese and the Chinese governments for their support to her ministry.
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture called on his colleagues to continue to work hard so ensure that the people of The Gambia are not disappointed. He said as a Ministry of Agriculture, the people of The Gambia have high expectations.
“We want to take our time to access and evaluate our past activities,” PS Sissaho told the gathering. He said the Ministry of Agriculture has a lot of potentials and is just a matter of harnessing those potentials.
During these four days, most of the institutions under the ministry are expected to make a presentation on their activities in the past year. And these presentations would help to shape the future direction of the ministry of agriculture. About 60% of the population of Gambia is directly or indirectly involved in agriculture.
