By: Kebba AF Touray
Rice farmers and Agric. Extension workers converged at the Kuntaur rice field recently, for a Field Day designed to showcase the impressive performance of high-quality climate-smart certified rice seeds received from the GIRAV project in 2023.
Hon. Musa Mbye, the Governor for the Central River Region (CRR) presided over the event organized by the Regional Agriculture Directorate for CRR North, with funding from the World Bank funded Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development project (GIRAV).
The event accorded farmers, extension workers and policy makers the opportunity to interact and share experiences as well as advocate for more support for rice farmers.
In his remarks, Governor Musa Mbye underscored the significance of the event (Field Day) and thanked the World Bank for funding the GIRAV project. He paid a glowing tribute to the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and the GIRAV project for the life changing interventions at the Kuntaur rice field.
Governor Mbye called on farmers to take ownership of the project’s interventions and make maximum use of the support being provided by GIRAV and other projects. He assured farmers that their challenges are well noted and assured them of the government’s commitment for the attainment of the national target of food self-sufficiency in rice by 2030.
Alhagie Pierre Bah, the District Chief of Niani acknowledged the contributions of the Gambia Government through various projects under the Ministry of Agriculture and the FAO in increasing rice production and productivity in his district. He emphasized the need for farmers to endeavor to be seed secure and to ensure efficient management of the farm machinery provided by government and development partners through agric. projects.
Chief Bah also challenged farmers to make sure that funds being generated through ploughing services are well managed and efficiently reinvested to ensure continuity and timely access to ploughing services.
Several other speakers including Demba Jawo, the Alkalo of Kuntaur Fula Kunda, Hamang Komma, President of CRRN Rice Farmers Association and Mama Sanneh, the women leader of the association at Wassu, all commended the Regional Agriculture Directorate, GIRAV Project, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and RVCTP, for enabling a bumper harvest from the dry season production.
“FAO helped with de-silting irrigation canals. The GIRAV project and the RVTCP provided inputs through the Regional agriculture directorate which also provided advisory services. These interventions enabled thousands of farmers from 45 communities to engage in dry season rice production this year and this is why rice fields are looking the way they are,” they noted with gratitude. They however singled out land preparation, lack of access roads, inadequate power tillers, combined harvesters and rice threshers as major challenges and appealed for more government and donor support to address them.
Mustapha Drammeh, Deputy Director at the Department of Agriculture who spoke on behalf of the Department and the Ministry, thanked the FAO, the Central Projects Coordinating Unit (CPCU) and the various projects investing in the development of rice value chains in the region.
“The contributions from the GIRAV Project, FAO and other projects have made today’s event possible. Field Day is an important activity. It provides a platform to showcase the achievements of farmers and the government,” Mr. Drammeh said, commending the World Bank for funding the GIRAV project.
Amadou Bah, Communications Officer at the GIRAV project, highlighted the importance the project attaches to the development of commercial agriculture in the country. He explained that since 2022, the project has procured 450 metric tons of certified rice seeds and 300 metric tons of certified maize seeds of different varieties, to help increase access and adoption of climate-smart seeds that are early-maturing, high-yielding, drought and salt-tolerant.
Each year, he said, the project hands over the seeds to the DoA for onward distribution to interested farmers as part of efforts aimed at building a productive and climate-resilient Agri-Food System in The Gambia.
Responding to challenges highlighted by farmers, he informed that the project will also provide some light equipment to help boost production and productivity. He also explained that the GIRAV project through the Matching Grant Scheme, has also provided smallholder farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the opportunity to invest in equipment to provide the much-needed services to actors along the five priority value chains of the project namely: rice, maize, cashew, poultry and horticulture (including mango).
Mustapha Bah, Agric. Director for CRRN who chaired the event, explained that 45 communities within Niani district are dependent on the Kuntaur rice field as their source of livelihoods. He said the government is playing its part and cited interventions in various projects and called on farmers to gear up for the achievement of national food self-sufficiency in rice by 2030.
