On the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Worldwide Convention Heart in Banjul, The Gambia, 50 members attended the African Improvement Financial institution’s annual Portfolio evaluate of the International Agriculture for Meals Safety Program (GAFSP) this March.
The group — GAFSP activity managers, undertaking implementation unit coordinators, monitoring and analysis officers, procurement officers, and accountants for every undertaking underneath Financial institution supervision, employees from the Financial institution’s agriculture division, representatives from the World Meals Program (WFP), and senior authorities officers from the Gambia — reviewed the efficiency of the GAFSP portfolio, its achievements, challenges, and classes discovered.
Contributors additionally visited one of many profitable GAFSP Gambia initiatives, the Kalagie vegetable ladies’s backyard positioned within the western a part of the nation. The GAFSP supported these ladies’s gardens with numerous local weather resilient climate-resilient vegetable seeds and solar-operated irrigation techniques for year-round manufacturing of market greens.
Dr Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture of The Gambia, opened his remarks by expressing appreciation for the Financial institution’s dedication and for GAFSP’s help in The Gambia’s agriculture sector.
“Each the African Improvement Financial institution and the International Agriculture and Meals Safety Program are among the many most constant nation growth companions in a remodeled agriculture sector for poverty discount, meals and vitamin safety and wealth creation”, he stated.
Mr Mod Secka, Everlasting Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, highlighted the GAFSP undertaking affect in The Gambia, saying “We’re immensely proud to showcase the success registered by The Gambia International Agriculture Meals Safety Program in file time. This undertaking has immediately impacted nearly 9000 Gambians by its numerous interventions”.
Deputy Director of the WFP, the undertaking’s implementing companion, Mr Malick Ndiaye harassed the efficient collaborative work among the many Financial institution, the federal government of The Gambia, and WFP in attaining the undertaking’s advantages to the native economic system.
The African Improvement Financial institution’s GAFSP program coordinator, Philip Boahen stated, “This system’s affect on smallholder farmers is profound, showcasing a outstanding mannequin of sustainable agricultural growth. By immediately partaking greater than 900 smallholder farmers throughout numerous areas and facilitating partnerships with native aggregators, this system has considerably contributed to the diversification of the native economic system. The procurement of important meals commodities from these farmers not solely ensures a gentle market but in addition stimulates native financial development.” He reaffirmed the African Improvement Financial institution’s dedication to assist bolster meals and vitamin safety goals of the federal government of The Gambia and introduced an extra $12 million grant for the GAFSP Gambia undertaking.
Boahen additionally shared updates on the latest restructuring of GAFSP that led to the creation of a Enterprise Funding Financing Monitor (BIFT), a program to offer concessional/blended financing for SMEs within the agricultural sector, typically thought of too dangerous by conventional lenders.
The African Improvement Financial institution Group Board of Administrators authorized the preliminary grant of $16 million for GAFSP on 21 September 2021, which was supplemented by $1.37 million in counterpart funding from the federal government of The Gambia.
For extra data: International Agriculture & Meals Safety Program (GAFSP)
