By Fatou Cham
The Department of Agriculture (DoA) has on Tuesday handed over seventy shine hoes and one hundred sickles to regional agricultural directors for onward distribution to the farmers across the country.
It said the tools, which are made in The Gambia and procured through the P2RS project dubbed, “Building Resilience Against Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel”, a sub-regional project implemented in seven Sahelian countries, namely Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
The P2RS project aims to eliminate the structural causes of acute and chronic food and nutrition crises by helping vulnerable households to increase their productivity, production and incomes, gain access to infrastructure and basic social services and build a heritage that strengthens their livelihoods in a sustainable manner.
In The Gambia, the P2RS project under the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (Nema) is meant to boost agricultural production and productivity for farmers.
Famara Trawally, the Regional Agriculture Director Central River Region South (CRR/S), said the P2RS project have been helping the department of agriculture with two key interventions: capacity building, and the provision of inputs.
“This project came to support vulnerable countries,” he said at the handing over ceremony held at Cape Point in Bakau.
Dr. Saikou E. Sanyang, the Director General Department of Agriculture, said ninety four shine hoes will be handed over to “Findi” growers in four regions.
He said the tools will address the lack of small farm implements for the beneficiaries, and will help in the production of other food crops.
“Boosting the production and productivity of findi will go a long way in increasing the income and nutritional security of our farmers,” he said.
