By Lamin Kujabi
Shortly after meeting President Adama Barrow at State House on Thursday, June 16th, the Vice President of International Food for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Mr Donald Brown said he was in the country to inspect ongoing IFAD-funded projects and to discuss future plans, in the context of the global food insecurity brought mainly by the Ukraine-Russia war.
“With the current war in Ukraine, which has global impact on food security, we are worried about the situation - how these countries can produce enough food for themselves to be able to support their populations,” he stated.
Mr Brown said IFAD has a long standing partnership with The Gambia and for many years, has been investing in agriculture, particularly smallholder farming, and providing resources to improve agriculture production in the country.
The projects are mainly about expansion of vegetable production, marketing and processing of the produce, using a value chain approach.
Demba Sabally, Minister of Ag- riculture who was also present at the meeting called on citizens who have the capacity, to engage in mechanised farming.
Minister Sabally appealed to IFAD to support The Gambia with fertilizer and to assist the country revamp Jahally and Pachar rice production programme.
He mentioned the need for the country to have good land policy for effective land development.
