By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
In its drive to open up viable markets for communities involved in participatory forest management to market their products, the department of Forestry under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources on Saturday, 4th January, 2020 convened a daylong Community-Based Forest Enterprise (CBFE) Contact and collaboration Fair.
The Saturday event, which took place at the Father Farrell Hall near the Youth Monument situated along the Westfield intersection, was part of the Trade Fair held from 5th-6th January, 2020, to create an interface between the producers of forest-based products and potential buyers, so as to establish markets for the communities engaging in forest management.
Stakeholders from the Forestry Department, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Forest products producers, potential buyers, amongst a host of others, graced the information sharing session.
“I am happy to inform this august gathering that proceeds realized from these enterprises are used to fund wide range of community development initiatives such as construction and operations of community bakeries, provision of community water supplies, payment of rates and taxes of the communities, provision of village horticultural garden for the women, provision of power tillers and milling machines, construction of mosques and classroom blocks and provision of learning materials,” the Director, Department of Forestry, Mr. Muhammed Jaiteh, catalogued in his remarks at the opening ceremony of the Contact and Collaboration event at Westfield.
He told his audience that community-based forest enterprises create formal and informal employment which contribute immensely towards alleviating rural-urban migration and household poverty.
Forestry resources, as Jaiteh noted, constitute a significant proportion of the Gambia, adding that a significant number of the Gambian population directly or indirectly depend on forest resources for their livelihood under the current socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country.
He informed the gathering that the sub-sector also contributes to the economy through management of eco-tourism, timber, fruits and nuts, medicinal plants and provision of fuelwood. He described the latter as the main source of domestic energy for over 90 per cent of the population, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the household energy supplies.
Director Jaiteh explained: “Experience in participatory forest management in The Gambia has shown that once local communities have recognized the value of trees and forests, they develop vested interests in their protection as permanent sources of income and/or livelihood.”
He went on, “Today, Community Forest [CF] development in the Gambia has reached a stage at which forest utilization and forest products marketing became more important, not only for the benefits of the communities and their engagement in resource protection but also for the sustainability of the approach itself.”
The Forestry Department boss disclosed that currently, in the Gambia, over 220 Community Forest committees and 27 co-management partners had been awarded with management Agreements which entitled them to commercialize forest products in line with the established management plans.
The Contact and Collaboration gathering further heard that, these committees and co-management partners represent more than 533 rural communities and manage/co-manage an area of more than 40, 000 ha [hectares] of Community Forests and forest parks.
Other speakers included Messrs. Hatab Camara and Cherno Gaye – all staff of Department of Forestry- who elobarated on the importance of forest enterprises.
