Govt to launch over $50m agricultural project #gambia

The Gambia government through the Ministry of Agriculture
in Banjul will tomorrow Tuesday 16 September launch the
Gambia Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain
Management Project (GCAV) at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.
The project is financed through an IDA grant and credit
totalling US$15.92 million - US$8.72 million as grant and
credit of US$7.2 million.
The project's development objective is to improve
productivity and access to markets for targeted agricultural
commodities of smallholder farmers in the project areas.
The project's higher level objective is to contribute directly
towards improving food security by increasing production
and market access for products important to domestic
consumption.
The project will rehabilitate 2500 hectares of irrigation
infrastructure to enhance the resilience of the agricultural
production system to climate change; and rehabilitate and
build commercial post-harvest structures to facilitate
processing and marketing of agricultural products.
It will support and strengthen the technical, institutional,
managerial and marketing capacities of smallholders and
their organizations, as well as other stakeholders involved
in agricultural production and the value chain, to more
effectively operate in a market-driven environment.
The project will provide institutional strengthening support
to improve the governance of the Gambia National
Agricultural Investment Programme, GNAIP.
According to the project design, the selected value chains
are rice and horticulture (vegetables), for which accessible
markets exist and productivity gains are achievable through
adoption of proven technologies.
The project shall also facilitate the construction of medium-
scale rice and mango processing plants in the Central River
Region and West Coast Region respectively, through private
sector initiatives.
The key expected outcomes are increased productivity
coupled with reduced post-harvest losse,. and an increase
in market volume, thereby generating additional incomes for
producers and other operators in the targeted value chains.
The launching of this project would be attended by various
partners and stakeholders from various institutions, both
private and public, civil society organizations and
community-based organisations, among others.