Various stakeholders from The Gambia and Senegal on Wednesday, 20 January, 2021 converged in the Gambia for a two-day forum to develop the activities plan–January 2021 to December 2021–of the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture (KCOA) in Africa project. The Gambia is among countries benefitting from the project.
The 2.5million euros project is funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) often shortened to GIZ, to be implemented in five years for five (5) West African countries, namely The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Benin and Nigeria.
The objective of the project, inter alia, is to introduce the knowledge hub successfully as an innovative strategy for promoting organic agriculture with actors in the regions of West, East, and Southern Africa, according to official version.
It would be led by three organizations, namely “Enda Pronat”[Association pour l’Environnement et Developpement Action pour une Protection Naturelle des Terroirs]–which will be responsible for Output A, to collect endogenous and scientific knowledge and validate it; “FENAB” [Fédération Nationale pour l’Agriculture Biologique]–will be responsible for Output B,which will disseminate the knowledge collected through different channels, among others the digital platform and the training of trainers/multipliers); and “Agrecol [Afrique]”- responsible for Output C, which will animate the development of organic value chains, put actors in networks and encourage the development of markets and participatory systems SPG Guarantee.
Mr. Mahamadou Lamin Fayinkeh, the National Coordinator of the Network of Family Farming (NCC IYFF+10 The Gambia), said the objective of the forum was to capture stakeholders perspectives on the organic agriculture of ecologic to get inventory of knowledge around the issues as priorities in the resilience context.
Family Farming, he told the participants, plays a key role in the entire value chain of food production and productivity. “With the support of FAO, United Nations, IFAD-The Gambia and other donors, we realize that our national, regional and beyond can be sustainable only when particular attention and support has been given to family farming, commonly known in The Gambia as “Kabilo Iaa Sinkiro,” he remarked.
He stipulated that the project also focuses on three main action fields, ranging from collecting/preparing knowledge in organic agriculture, dissemination of knowledge to many users and networking within agricultural value chains.
The Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Munir Jatta, who stood in for the Agriculture Minister, told the gathering: “The Gambia Government is focusing more on organic and Ecological agriculture (OEA). Therefore, the project comes at a time we are building the capacity of our farmers, especially in this 21st century market by a greater collective awareness around the issues of sustainable development, and in this new era of digital communication. This will help to identify, validate and share the knowledge know-how of farmers on the various links of the value chain.”
“My Ministry, with support from stakeholders, will strengthen the policy dialogue to promote and protect the future established center on organic and ecological agriculture as well build the capacity of farmers and their organizations on organic farming,” he added.
Jatta said government is making efforts to partner with private sectors, NGO, CSOs as well media houses, with the objectives of advocating on issues relating to Gambian farmers at higher level of decision-making. The Gambia government, he further informed, “fully supports organic farming, pastoralism and fisheries”.
Mr. Ebrima Seck, a participant from Senegal, underscored the significance of the forum, while commending the two neighbouring countries for their collaboration.
Seck emphasised the importance of organic farming in promoting agricultural production and productivity in the beneficiary’s countries.
