FAO boss links sustainable agriculture to healthy forests

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative
in The Gambia has underscored the link between
sustainable agricultural developments to healthy forest,
arguing that the former cannot take place without the latter.
Perpetua Katepa-Kalala was speaking recently during the
launch of the 2014 National Tree Planting exercise held at
the Katalenge Forest Park in Kafuta, Kombo East, West
Coast Region (WCR).
The exercise was spearheaded by the Department of
Forestry under the Office of the President in collaboration
with the Standard Chartered Bank and the five surrounding
villages of the area.
"Trees are extremely significant to a sustainable
development of agriculture and rural livelihood," she
emphasised. "We must restore the forest to its natural
environment to ensure that the natural species and
livestock that were in the forest could come back. The only
way to achieve this is for people to desist from setting
forests on fire".
She described bushfire as one of the major ways through
which forests are destroyed, warning that without trees,
there will be less rainfall and that the soil will also lose its
fertility.
The FAO representative advised residents in the area to
desist from illegal logging, stressing that irresponsible
felling down of trees is tantamount to the destruction of
one's own future livelihood. "FAO mandate is to support
countries to ensure food security, agriculture and rural
development, but this cannot be achieved without healthy
forest," she noted.
The head of Integration Distribution at Standard Chartered
Bank, Ousman Njie, said his institution has over the years
been collaborating with the Department of Forestry to do
tree planting in various forest parks in the country. "We
value giving back to the communities and this is one way of
doing it," he said.
The head of Participatory Forest Management, Cherno
Gaye, said the reforestation exercise will contribute to the
restoration of the forest cover which was degraded as a
result of bushfires and other human activities.
Other speakers included Lamin Camara of NEA and the
principal forestry officer of West Coast Region (WCR),
Ousainou Cham.