Food security: Gambia secures $9m loan from AfDB

NaijaAgroNet:

The Gambian government has signed a USD 9 million loan agreement with the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, to finance an agriculture value chains project, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The acting Vice-President, Sector Operations, AfDB, Kapil Kapoor, who signed the agreement for the bank, said that project which involves the production, processing and storage of or rice and livestock, will improve food security and create jobs.

He also said that the project is aligned with the bank’s High-5 priorities, especially the Feed Africa component, stressing that the government would implement the project as quickly as possible in line with the bank's new accelerated projects and programmes delivery approach.

In response, the Gambian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Abdou Kolley, who signed the agreement for his country, thanked the bank for the support, and said the project will go a long way toward the realization of his county's food self-sufficiency goal and promised that the government would work hard to reduce bottlenecks which cause delays in the projects implementation.

The Agriculture Value Chains Development Project (AVCDP) which was approved in March 2016, seeks to increase, on a sustainable basis, the income of rural producers, entrepreneurs engaged in the production, processing, storage and marketing of rice and livestock. It will also create shared wealth and jobs.

Okoli Vincent/GEE

 
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Emulate President Jammeh, Gambian farmers tasks African leaders

 NaijaAgroNet

The President of the National Farmers Platform of The Gambia (NFPG), Alagie Bassi Mboge has charged African leaders to emulate President Yahya  Jammeh's footstep in boosting agricultural production and productivity, reports NaijaAgroNet .

Mboge made this call in an interview with news men in The Gambia, saying that the ongoing presidential tour to meet with farmers across the country is a clear demonstration that President Jammeh is taking the lead to ensuring that decades of importation of rice become a thing of the past in the country.

He described Jammeh as a president with a difference whose ambition is to ensure that not only The Gambia becomes food self-sufficient, but also the whole of Africa.

Mr. Mboge also commended the President for the laudable initiative of meeting farmers, and discussing with them the way forward in addressing some of their key concerns regarding the attainment of Vision 2016, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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