By Mariam Saine
Sixteen rice and cereal processing machines and accessories have been handed over to fourteen youth groups across The Gambia by the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (Nema) on Friday, 21st June, 2019.
The materials, handed over to the beneficiaries at the Nema office in Abuko on June 21, were acquired through the Nema Matching Grant Facility, and is is part of efforts to support youth and women in agricultural production and productivity.
The Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Amie Fabureh, said Nema’s agribusiness development facility – the Capital Investment Stimulation Fund (CISF) or Matching Grant Facility – builds medium-term financial services adapted to women and youth groups and individual-based small and medium enterprises.
She said that the scheme is based on the promotion of commodities value chain development, and ensuring that services are rendered through a partnership between producer organisations, public sector and private sector equipment suppliers.
“This is a demonstration that the value chain is working through the matching grant alone. Nema has previously supported over 20 enterprises in the downstream end of the value chain by providing tractors, power tillers, and solar irrigation systems,” she said.
Mr. Momodou L. Gassama, Nema Project Director, said Nema is a value-chain project focusing on rice and vegetable value chains, and targeting youth and women and seeks to increase food security incomes, reduce food importation and also increase food security.
“Nema has invested heavily on production through the construction of water control infrastructure to support lowland and upland development, tidal irrigation and vegetable garden schemes,” he said.
Mr. Gassama said it is necessary to support upstream activities such as processing, transportation and marketing in order to achieve full implementation of the value chain.
He said the project has targeted youth groups and individual in the rural areas and provided them with requisite capacity building to ensure that this objective of driving the upstream value chain activities is achieved.
Nema also offers support to young men and women through the Matching Grant to help them establish youth enterprises that provide services to the producers, expand the rural economy and also create employment.
The Nema Project co-financed by International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Islamic Development Bank, African Development Bank, and the Government of The Gambia – with IFAD as the lead development partner financing over 50% of the project.
Nema Busines Development Officer, Mr Banky Njie chaired the ceremony while the vote of thanks was delivered by Lamin Sanneh from Jattaba village in the Lower River Region (LRR).
