Bamba Saho, the governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, has said the country’s  economy is forecasted to grow at 6.5% in 2008, premised on a strong rebound in agricultural output and the continued growth in services and construction sectors. Money supply grew by 8.5% in the year ended June 2008, compared to 12.9% a year earlier.

Quasi money rose by 13.0% and narrow money by 4.0 percent. From end December 2007, money supply grew by 2.7 percent while reserve money contracted by 6.3 percent.

Governor Bamba Saho made this disclosure at the meeting of the Central Bank of The Gambia’s Monetary Policy Committee, held, yesterday, at the conference hall of the Central Bank of The Gambia.

According to him, the total revenue and grants for the first six months of 2008 declined to D1.9 billion or 3.6 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2007.  The decline is attributed to the lower than projected tax and non-tax revenue. Total expenditure and net lending increased to D2.0 million or 13.6 percent compared to the first half of 2007.  The overall budget balance including grants on commitment basis was a deficit of D113.0 million or 1.3 percent of GDP.  Excluding grants, the deficit widened to D164.4 million or 1.8 percent of GDP.

Bamba Saho added that the inter-bank foreign exchange market continues to be vibrant, saying that from the end of December 2007 to July 2008, the Dalasi strengthened by 7.1 percent, 4.9 percent, 1.9 percent and 1.5 percent against the US dollar, pound sterling, Euro and CFA franc respectively.  However, the Dalasi, he went on, depreciated slightly against all the major currencies between June and July 2008.  The banking industry’s total assets also increased to D11.3 billion or 12.2 percent from end June 2007.

Mr Saho noted that the commercial banks’ loans increased to 83.0 billion in June 2008 or 33.2 percent from a year ago.  Loans and advances to all the major economic sectors increased excepting agriculture, which decreased by 50.4 percent to D157.7 million. Credit, fishing, building, construction, transportation and distributive trade increased by 6.6 percent, 95.4 percent, 78.5 percent and 37.8 percent, respectively.

Tourism, personal loans and other loans rose by 14.7 percent, 25.5 percent and 65.0 percent from the previous year.

The Central Bank governor further revealed that from the beginning of the year 2008, total domestic debt increased to D6.1 billion (33.5 percent of GDP) or 10.4 percent of total outstanding treasury bills, amounting to 80.7 percent of total domestic debt, increasing to 4.9 billion or 2.4 percent.

The bulk of the treasury bills continue to be in the 364-day bills, constituting 68.9 percent, whilst 182-day bills and 91 day bills accounted for 20.5 percent and 10.5 percent of the stock, respectively.

The end period inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) was 3.8 percent at the end of July 2008 compared to 6.3 percent in July 2007. On the inflation outlook, the governor said inflation is forecasted to remain in single digits; however, there were risks to the outlook relating to the persistent surge in global energy and food prices.  

The monetary policy committee has decided to maintain the rediscount rate, and the policy rate at 15.0 percent. The MPC would continue to monitor changes in economic conditions and respond appropriately in order to discharge its mandate to maintain price stability.  

The next meeting of the monetary policy committee would be held in October 2008, the Central Bank declared to the audience.

As The Gambia is an agricultural country, students in schools should be able to identify the difference between subsistence farming and commercial farming. Subsistence farming is practised by many farmers in developing countries like The Gambia.

These poor farmers earn their living by working on the land and merely growing enough for themselves and their families and practice what is known as shifting cultivation. Commercial farming, on the other land, is practiced in many developed countries including South Africa, where farming is more advanced and profitable with great use of machinery and modern methods of farming.

Farmers practising subsistence farming in many developing countries like The Gambia are poor because this type of farming is characterized by the use of simple farming tools such as cutlass, the hoe and the axe as a means of clearing the bush for planting crops.

One of the disadvantages of subsistence farming is low productivity. President Jammeh should be commended for trying to replace the primitive tools farmers are using with tractors and other required agricultural implements for our farmers to increase production.

This information will help our young Gambians in schools not to blame or hate the subject of “Agriculture” in school but to blame this farming system with low productivity under which their parents have been practicing for their whole lives and remaining poor. Transformation from this low agricultural productivity to commercial farming should be encouraged through training, research, effective extension programmes and government policies to promote agricultural production in The Gambia.

It is necessary that we focus on the school system to produce skilful and knowledgeable farmers. To achieve this, it is suggested that relevant theory and practical agriculture be taught in schools as a recognized school subject. This will make teachers and pupils develop interest and participate actively in the implementation of agricultural school projects. These young Gambians in schools can be motivated to have the desirable and positive attitudes towards farming at school going age by involving them through training, in their practical, school farms and gardening activities.

The school garden is a small farm where vegetable crops are intensively cultivated and fruit tree seedlings raised for the school orchard. It can be established in any available space in the school however small. The following points should be considered in the selection of a garden site. There should be adequate supply of water, leveled site, fertile soil, drainage and the availability of wind breaks.

The garden in the school compound can help in the control and watching of birds, insect pests, plant diseases and rodents.

For their practicals, students will be taught how to prepare the site for favourable plant growth, that is cultivation, preparation of vegetable nursery beds, watering of seed boxes, pricking out, planting out (transplanting) and the subsequent treatment of planted seedlings after transplanting. They will also be taught how to make compost heaps in their gardening activities and the benefits of animal manure and compost in the soil as opposed to over doses of chemical fertilizers, and the advantages of mulching.

Gardening practices in schools will also help students to acquire agricultural knowledge and skills for self-employment. The garden will provide vegetables for their school meals and strategies of marketing for their school farm production when they reach the Senior Secondary level.

Pupils in nursery schools are very young but must be motivated and a strong foundation in this important subject given at this tender age. Agricultural orientation for these very young children, who are the future leaders and farmers, can be done through observation by showing them illustrations of farm animals and farm crop, their names and identification using cassettes and slides. Poems about animals and plants can be read by the teachers for them to know the benefits of Agriculture through discussions as motivation to farming.

Establishing a school farm in the Lower and Upper Basic Schools with all the required farm animals, crop project and the required agricultural implements can be very expensive and therefore the establishment of an inexpensive school gardening project is being suggested for the above-named schools for their agricultural practicals together with the effective teaching of Agriculture as an important school subject.

Theory and practical agriculture in senior secondary schools is very important but can be very expensive if all the schools are to be equipped with all the required farm animals, crops, farm tools and implements. Therefore it is suggested that one or two senior secondary schools be selected from each region and equipped for the effective teaching of agricultural practices required for food production and self employment.
The availability of adequate land and water will also be considered as criteria for selection.

At the end of the senior secondary school career, few promising students from each region, could be selected to undergo a two-year agricultural course in an established agricultural institution. In their first year they could be taught general Agriculture; specialization in their second year, for them to become “pilot farmers”. They would then be sent back to the communities from where they come; eg. students from CRR will become model farmers in rice cultivate ion and the same with other regions, specializing in their agricultural production area.

These trained “pilot farmers” will need the support of stakeholders from the entire community. Financial assistance in the form of loans could be obtained from banks. Their land and property could be measured and valued by the survey department and used as collateral.

Supervision, monitoring and technical advice could be given by the department of Agricultural Science. The department of co-operation could take up the erection of cold storage facilities and buy agricultural products from these pilot farmers to sell or supply supermarkets in order to reduce the importation of eggs, chicken, vegetables etc.

If these pilot farmers are given such support by government and all stakeholders involved, they will become successful and skilful farmers and this would convince our adult farmers and the public, especially students, that farming is a profitable and dignified occupation. We must make an effort so as to convince Gambians that with collective efforts, we can make farming a success in The Gambia.

We cannot produce successful farmers when the supermarkets are stocked with imported agricultural products. All stakeholders must come together to make this difficult venture a success in the interest of the Gambian agricultural development which is the dream of His Excellency the President.

A comparison of office desks with well trained and motivated regional pilot farmers can be done with students from school. This will prove that well informed and supported farmers can be economically and socially better than office clerks. Not only telling, but showing Gambians how agriculture can be done to make a farmer rich, is one of the most effective ways of convincing Gambians to take up farming seriously.

Many Agricultural Science teachers in the past were concerned with the lack of relevant and practical Agricultural Science text-books for their schools. They wanted books that match and favour the Gambia’s agricultural environment and conditions for agricultural development.

The Agricultural Science textbook for senior secondary schools and colleges in West Africa, produced by the author, not only guides teachers and students to acquire knowledge and skills in plant and animal agricultural food production, it also covers the examination requirements of the West African Examinations Council. This textbook was launched on the 24th July 2004 as part of celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the July 22nd revolution. The book reviewer was Mr Ernest Aubee. The textbook is a student’s companion to agriculture in The Gambia.

To conclude, the author wishes to appeal to the public to adhere to the call of President Jammeh “Back to the Land” which is frequently published in The Observer and Point Newspapers, aimed to increase agricultural food production in The Gambia. This is our concern and hope of our farmers. Responding to this call, the department of education under the leadership of President Jammeh is determined to revive ad strengthen the school farm and gardens for the training of our young Gambians in agricultural production.

The author who is an agriculture educationist is motivated and had the same idea of promoting agriculture as President Jammeh is doing now.
When he started teaching in 1953, in Bwiam primary school, Foni Kansala, he emphasized the importance of the teaching of practical agriculture to young Gambians. He is a Gambian who has sacrificed his time and energy, traveling by boat with the Fulladu and Lady wright and over-land to teach in many primary and secondary schools in all parts of the country.

He was also a senior agricultural science education lecturer at The Gambia College and an agricultural science examiner for the West African Examination Council and interacted with young Gambians in mission and government schools. He worked with Caritas (NGO) on women, village and school garden agricultural programmes; also with crops members at the NYSS Nyaniberi and Sapu rice farms as farm manager, teaching the NYSS youth to acquire agricultural knowledge and skills in crop and animal husbandry.

He has written several agricultural science textbooks for schools, based on his teachings and field-work experience. He is a graduate of Njala University in Sierra leone and Worcester College of Higher Education, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, specializing in agricultural education. Among the textbooks written by the author is the “Gardening Guide for Schools on the Production of Vegetables and Fruit trees and an “Agricultural Science” for Senior Secondary Schools and Colleges in West Africa, covering the examination requirements for the West African Council certificate.

The book has 162 pages and is divided into four chapters covering Introduction to Agriculture, Basic Concepts, Soil Science, Crop Science and Animal Science. The forward of this informative and practical agricultural textbook is written by Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, President of The Gambia to encourage other Gambians.

Inadequate vegetable seeds, water, insecticides, garden materials, storage facilities, a competitive market, as well as a good fence is causing a lot of damages in the agricultural sector and indeed hindering good harvest in all farming and gardening activities.

One out of such examples is the Bakau women’s horticultural garden.  

In this edition of Women’s Weekly, the Mistress of the column visited the Bakau Women’s garden, at Mile 7, opposite Radio Gambia in Bakau, where the  women are busy , cultivating vegetables as we began experiencing the rainy season. Even though the women continue to engage themselves in gardening activities throughout the year, yet they have a lot of challenges facing them.

The women gardeners grow different varieties of crops such as rice, corn, pepper, cabbage, garden eggs, bitter tomatoes, sorrel, cassava, etc.

Speaking to Women’s Weekly, the women gardeners lamented some of the constraints they faced in their garden, which they said, needs urgent  attention from the government and any other philanthropists interested in pushing forward the welfare of women in the country

One of the women  explained that, lack of enough water and fencing of the garden, greatly affects their work. She said that they do not have enough wells and sometimes, all the wells get dry and they have to wait until when water is available before they can water their nursery beds. She disclosed that, they encountered a lot of theft cases, whereby thieves stole their  vegetables and crops, during harvesting period

"Other constraints that we are faced with  are; lack of fertilizers, as one bag of fertilizer is costing D700, which is very expensive, compared to our earnings, insecticides  to kill the pests, seedlings, farm tools and equipments, and as well as the security of the garden", said another insider at the women’s garden.

One of the women said that,  sometimes they get assistance from philanthropists, Government and   private institutions, adding that the latest donation came from Standard Chartered Bank Gambia Ltd.

The women also complained of lack of space in the market where they can sell their garden produce.

The women also called on President Jammeh and his government, philanthropists, NGOs,  and Agencies to come to their aid.

‘A surprising performance’ - says Kanilai Farm’s coordinator

As the rains approach, and the cropping season begins, Kanilai, the home village of the Gambian leader, is set to resume its festive outlook, when citizens from across the country converge on it, in their own ways of answering to the call of the His Excellency, President Jammeh whose preoccupation it has been to transform this country into a self-reliant one, in terms of food production. The students of the University of the Gambia have, since last year, resolved to join the President in this cause.

In this 2008 planting season, the students, under the auspices of the Students’ Union (UTGSU), were apparently the first to have made it to Kanilai. This first school visit turned out to be quite an exemplary one, much to the delight of the kanilai Farms coordinator.

After a thrilling performance of hard work by the students, Captain Baldeh expressed amazement at the amount of work the they had done, saying that "this is the first time ever for a group to have come to Kanilai during a weekend, cleared down a plot of land for cultivation, presided over its ploughing, before sowing it," all in just a weekend.

That was exactly what members of the Students’ Union of the University of the Gambia did. Having arrived at the village last Thursday, setting for their plot of land allocated to them by the President, since last year, they cleared the plot of an area of about six hectares, sharing a border with one of the favorite hangouts of the president whenever he retires to his home. This year they decided to cultivate millet and sorghum. For people of their kind, being absorbed by the tedious studies you would expect of university students, the UTG students seem defiant, and Capt. Baldeh was certainly not alone in his admiration for them.  

The brains behind the noble projects are Ousman Badjie, the president of the University of the Gambia Students Union, from whom the original idea had in fact emerged, sometime last year, when he was Technical Director of the Students’ Union, and the man the entire students fondly call "farm manager," Famara Badjie (with no close relation with the former).  Famara, a second year student, is a trained agricultural extension worker, who studied at the Gambia College in Brikama.

He has had an excellent record in the field, having co-pioneered and worked on one of the most successful agricultural projects in the country, in the village of Njamboor. He sees the UTGSU farm in Kanilai as a potentially rewarding undertaking. His appeal goes to his colleagues. He urged them to take the farm seriously, saying that the Gambian leader does not have any interest in what "is produced, or what is gotten from such proceeds." The benefit, he reiterated, is for us, the entire populace of the Gambia.

Ousman Badjie made similar sentiments, in reminding his colleagues about the need for upholding a legacy they inherited. He reminded them about what had warranted the establishment of the farm in the first place, calling on them to take it as theirs, and not "HE’s. This was an echo of an earlier statement by Captain Baldeh.

Last season, the university students body cultivated two kinds of crops, with the secondary crop doing better than the primary one whose failure was due to late starting, coupled with the erratic nature of the rains. But this time round, as in the words of the official farm adviser of the student’s farm, Famara Badjie, "Inshaallah, everything will go fine."  With this early, promising starting, and the fact that the students are not taking any chance, this year’s harvest is sure to make up for last year’s losses. It must be emphasized though, that the farmer has a lot to do, but the overall success of the farm depends on environmental factors which are controlled by nature.

The challenge of productivity growth is the sole basis for the generation of food self-sufficiency.   This cannot be avoided, it is the only route.

Therefore, we must be resolved to consider the on-going food crisis as a welcome challenge for the creation of a new targets-based production ethic in the agricultural sector.  The global food crisis must commit us to the attainment of food self-reliance, the provision of necessary institutional support facilities and the rectification of previous production failures.

While we should frown at the traditional low level underutilization of our unique comparative advantage, there are compelling reasons to insist on a targets-based production approach as a solution to most of our agro-rural development problems.

The resource-poor farmers who constitute the overwhelming majority of our population and their primary production problems - poverty itself, low production, the unequal access to the basic production necessities/inputs and to the basic opportunities for self-advancement and development - must be recognized as having primary claims on government policies, programmes and resources.  

The Challenge

Let me put the record straight.  We cannot be Self-sufficient in rice at the moment.  Rice self-sufficiency belongs to the post-salinity control measures to be undertaken by the Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG).  What we can achieve for the moment, within a short-term targets-based concentrated work period, is rice-based food-sufficiency.  In the next write up, I will outline in detail why self-sufficiency in rice is not feasible at the moment and, alongside this, I will also provide a multiple objective planning method.

What can be done?

In the past, agricultural growth in the country has been achieved mainly by cultivating larger areas.  However, the potential for area expansion is getting more and more limited.  Some underexploited lowland areas remain, but these are mostly marginal or forested, and destruction of such ecosystems - even for agriculture - would cause more problems than it would provide solutions.

The only way forward is therefore to increase the yield of existing farms - to intensify agricultural production.  Intensification requires use of modern varieties responsive to fertilizer treatment and the timely application of more nutrients to the fields.  These can either come from ‘external’ inputs, such as mineral fertilizers, or from locally available soil amendments including organic matter.

The approach to food self-sufficiency is neither an easy nor a cheap undertaking.  It is costly by any standard.  It success justifies the cost.  Productivity growth as a prerequisite to the attainment of food self-sufficiency must be executed in partnership with resources-poor smallholder producers.

These are the authentic private sector, who constitute the overwhelming of our people and their primary problems - poverty itself, low production, unequal access to the basic necessities of life and to the basic opportunities for self-advancement and development - must be recognized as having primary claims on government policies, programmes and resources.  Within this context, comprehensive package of services must be made available to the farming community such as a comprehensive supervised input supply system, credit, farm advisory service system, irrigation, rural electrification, small- and medium-scale agro-industries and other supplementary employment opportunities on a scale never before envisioned or carried out.  Unless these fundamental structural support changes are in place, neither NEPAD’s 6% growth in agricultural productivity nor the World Bank’s MDG goals will be achieved.  Indeed, we may retreat away from all these targets.      

We should design these productivity growth support incentive strategies to be a comprehensive framework, because our national social situation called for it, and to be developmental because our agricultural situation required it.  

An upward movement

Farmers may improve the use and recycling of nutrients by applying innovative soil and water conservative methods.  However, in order to raise agricultural productivity substantially these methods must be combined with the application of both organic and mineral fertilizers.  Because organic sources of soil improvement have low nutrient content and are not abundant, relying on these sources alone is not feasible.  

Similarly, using inorganic fertilizers alone may lead to short-term gains but stores up problems in the long-ter, such as soil acidification and loss of soil texture, both of which lead to yield decline.  The best strategy is therefore to combine inorganic and organic soil amendments; the mineral fertilizer provides most of the nutrients while the organic fertilizer increases soil organic matter, structure and buffering capacity.  This is defined as:

Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM)          

The rationale for intensification based on ISFM is simple.  There are synergies from using both inorganic and organic fertilizers that not only boost nutrient levels but also improve the efficiency of nutrient and water use.

Increasing production by providing alternative and more3 intensive technologies is only one rung on the ladder to productivity take-off; the other conditions must also be met if intensificatioin is to become economically sustainable and if food is to get where it is needed.  Farmers must be able to access high-quality inputs at the right time and at reasonable cost.  Moreover they need to produce surplus and be able to sell these at a fair price.

Linking farmers to input-supply and product-value chains is a huge challenge.  Sustainable agricultural intensification needs a carefully assembled strategy that links the highly diverse farming systems of small holder farmers to specialized supply chains, that strengthens the  competencies of the various actors involved, and that also addresses the fundamental causes of production as well as market failures.  

These strategy has been outlined in various programme/project proposals based fertilizer use-rate and use-efficiency, community asset and wealth creation, the formation of agribusiness clusters which should make a major contribution to district/regional goals.  Agribusiness clusters, within the concept of a targets-based productivity growth, should consist of progressive performers who would be eligible for additional funding to enable them participate more fully in the net working process.

Conclusion:  Enabling conditions for productivity growth

Much of the investment for the sustainable promotion of the targets-based production intensification prerequisites are intended to respond to the productivity situation facing our resource-poor smallholder farmers.  Yet we also need to address many other production problems if we are to permanently address the declining trends of the food production sub-sector.   
 
There should be no illusion or quick fixes or miracle paths towards national self-reliance in food and agriculture.  Achievement of a productive and sustainable sector will require us to address a complex set of challenges, including the following:

.     Low internal effective demand due to poverty

.     Limited access to technology and low human capacity to adopt new skills

.     Vagaries of climate and consequent risk that deters investments

.     Institutional weaknesses for service provision to the entire agricultural chain  from farm to market.

Furthermore, we will also need to improve the policy as well as the framework for productivity growth to make them more supportive of local community participation in rural areas.  We will need to improve governance, in terms of giving voice to both small and large-scale players in the farming community.

If these constraints are eased through a combination of actions, a virtuous cycle can be started of  reduced hunger, increased productivity, increased incomes and sustainable poverty reduction.  All the above reqquire commitment of a high order.  Regrettably, the past decades have revealed that little attention has been paid to agricuclture and rural development.   

The Need For Planning

The objective of economic policy, therefore, from the long-term point of view and in terms of the overriding objective of economic development, is to channel the production surplus to agro-industry for value adding.  Overtime, this leads to industrialization proper which absorbs both the production and labour surplus.   

How this is done, how the linkage of surplus production to agro-industrialization is to be pursued in order to realize maximum results, is the central problem of planning.  The mere wish to be self-sufficient in food does not constitute a way out of the condition of underdevelopment.  Once the choice is made to be self-sufficient in food, the compelling problem is how to direct the main prerequisite, productivity growth.    

This involves three crucial issues of policy: a) what commodities should be produced by a transformed agriculture to trigger the self-sufficiency process; b) what technology should be used in the production process; and c) the level of institutional support to be provided (skilled and knowledgeable farmer advisory service, production inputs - seeds, fertilizer, chemicals, supervised credit, assisted self-planning and individual/group evaluation).  

The choice of production input and commodity mix in the agricultural sector is conditioned by a wide number of factors.  We can produce food and cash crops for domestic consumption and for export on a sustainable basis, but this effort is heavily constrained by the resource poverty of the small holder farmer producers and the failure of the institutional support system to guide them do just that.  

For productivity growth to prosper, be sustained and stabilized for a self-sufficiency take-off, production levels have to rise, and since the predominant economic activity of the small holder farmer is agriculture, it becomes all important that agriculture must be supported to ensure the launch of a stable agriculture-led development.  Along these lines, agricultural capital goods manufacturers (that could be coordinated by the foundry at the GTTI) can proceed to produce the capital goods that a transformed subsistence agricultural sector normally imports from abroad.  

The capital goods manufacturing effort should be directed towards the production of time and labour saving equipments, and this choice should be significantly conditioned by the aging and aged labour that presently dominate farming.  Formidable difficulties arise from challenging a subsistence farmer with a targets-based surplus production approach.  It is a worthy and timely challenge which, because new and ambitious, raises problems of adjusting to a ‘new set’ of work ethic geared to satisfying targets.  Assuming that the targets can be sustained and the surpluses  created are stabilized over time, the self-sufficiency take-off comes in automatically.  

B.How can farmers be challenged to boost production?

As an agrarian society, with more than 65 percent of the population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, it is generally recognized that we will only be able to develop, and sustain the development process, if there is considerable growth in the welfare of this 65% of the population.  This growth leading to the welfare of this 65% can only come from the agricultural sector.  

Only such growth can avert hunger, alleviate poverty, reduce food dependency, increase exports, promote import substitution, restrict rural migration and release sufficient income to establish a market for manufactured goods.  This is the fundamental basis determining the NEPAD goal of 6% annual growth in agricultural production to be able to reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.  

The following targets could guide the formulation of incentive policies to attract farmers to boost production:

i)   Consolidate the market for domestic food production;

ii)  Promote a price policy that is more favourable to agriculture;

iii) Improve the supply and affordability of inputs, factors of production and consumer  
        
     goods in the rural rural areas;

iv)  Promote a marketing policy to streamline distribution in the rural areas and
             
     improve outlets for agricultural production;

v)   Increase supervised credit facilities and provide greater access to farmers;

vi)  Improve feeder roads and transport at tolerable expense;

vii) Improve the transfer and adoption of technical know-how to enhance production;  

viii) Promote greater rural population responsibility for development decisions;

ix)  Promote the development of human resources in a more appropriate and
    
     challenging manner.

Africa Emergency Locust Project (AELP), in their strive to mitigate the socio-economic and environmental impact of locust infestation on agricultural and live stock production, recently kicked off a distribution exercise of a brand of rice seeds, called NERICA (New Rice for Africa). In all, inhabitants of 230 villages benefited from the exercise.

In an interview with the Daily Observer, Yasin Khan, the savvy AELP monitoring and evaluation officer, said that in the frame work of emergency agricultural investment, the locust project is putting up strategies to restore the agricultural productive capacity base through the provision of compensation packages to farmers affected during the 2004 locust invasion in The Gambia; thus the NERICA distribution. According to her, the compensation package started with the distribution of vegetable seeds, fertilizer, watering cans and knapsack sprayers to 113 villages.

"Beside the 113 communities, the (AELP) project is also working with an additional 117 communities. In collaboration with the department of veterinary services, 230 villages had their small ruminant and poultry vaccinated against two “episodic” diseases. This time round, (AELP), for the past two weeks, has been on this NERICA distribution to 230 villages," she said.

Ms Khan added that this is one of the key ways through which The Gambia can enhance the attainment of food self-sufficiency. The beneficiaries, according to her, were given 50kg of NERICA seeds, each community, which is meant for seed multiplication schemes. "They are told to grow these seeds in communal farms with the aim of getting good quality seeds that would be available to all households,” she explained.

She further disclosed that in two weeks time, the beneficiary communities would be supported with improved cassava cuttings and fruit trees seedlings such as mangoes, cashew and oranges.

The American ambassador to The Gambia, Barry L. Wells yesterday had a marathon meeting with President Jammeh in his office at State House, Banjul.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the meeting,the US envoy said  it centered on issues among them to ensure that  what they are doing is consistent  with what the two presidents are interested in doing together.

Asked to highlight on the specific  issues discussed, Ambassador Wells said, their discussions touched food security and the global food crisis and its impact on The Gambia and the world and measures needed to be put in place to curb the crises.

To this effect, he added, the US government plans to  strengthen and  further equip Peace Corp volunteers to help in the area of vegetable production and other agricultural activities.

“The assistance given to The  Gambian military by the United States was also deliberated during the meeting with the Gambian leader” says Ambassador Wells.