Gambia: Deputy agriculture minister says GNAIP should be inclusive

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in collaboration with ECOWAP, NEPAD and CAADP Horizon 2025, convey a three days workshop from the 27^th to 29^th September, 2016 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

  

The deputy minister of Agriculture, Mr. Sherriffo Bojang, presided over the official opening on behalf of the minister.

The restitution workshop is to launch the development process of the second generation of the Gambia National Agricultural Investment Plan-GNAIP 2.0 for agricultural transformation in The Gambia. 

GNAIP is the national blueprint for the development of Gambia’s agriculture sector.

Member States to nominate candidates for next IFAD President

Rome, 27 September 2016 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized United Nations agency and international financial institution, today announced a call to its 176 Member States to nominate candidates for the Fund’s next President.

The President is IFAD’s most senior position with responsibility for leading the organization and chairing its Executive Board. Nominations for President can only be made by IFAD Member States and must be received by the Secretary of IFAD no later than 1 December 2016.

Micro-Gardens allow low-income families to meet their needs, source of extra income- FAO

Participants

Micro-gardens are highly productive and can be easily managed by anyone – women, men, children, the elderly and the disable thus improve extra income for families says Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Banjul office, Madam Perpetua Katepa- Kalala.

FAO boss was speaking on Tuesday, 27^th September, 2016 at a day-long Micro-garden seminar, exposition and demonstration held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. The meeting gathered farmer organisations, schools, horticulturists, extension workers, and the media among others.

According to Madam Kalala, Micro-gardens allow low-income families to meet their needs for vitamins, minerals, and plant protein by providing direct access to fresh, nutritious vegetables every day.  

She adds: ‘they also offer a source of extra income from the sale of small surpluses.’

Africa Food Prize awarded to Kanayo F. Nwanze for his dedication to African smallholders

Dr Kanayo Nwanze

The Africa Food Prize Committee, chaired by Olusegun Obasanjo, selected a Nigerian national, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, as the first winner of the ‘Africa Food Prize’ award for his efforts to improve the lives of smallholder farmers. Dr. Nwanze takes home $100,000 worth prize.

The President of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was awarded the inaugural Africa Food Prize at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Nairobi.]

Nwanze is honored for initiating agricultural reforms, policies and programs which has improved the lives of millions and for his courageous leadership in encouraging solidarity with Africa’s smallholder farmers.

“I would like to dedicate this award to the millions of African women who silently toil to feed their families,” said Dr. Nwanze. “No nation has been able to transform itself without giving women the same rights and opportunities as men. Our hope for future generations rests with African women who bear and raise our young people who will shape the African continent in the years to come,” said Nwanze.

Governor Puye tells youth: Seek funding and you will be assisted

Governor Salifu Puy, Lower River Region at the closing ceremony

“Seek for funding at the regional and national levels and you will be assisted,” the  Governor of Lower River Region (LRR), Salieu Puye, told Gambian youth last week. 

 

While presiding over the closing of GYIN Gambia ELIT 2016 summer camp on July 31 at Jenoi village in LRR, Governor Puye said the youth should start-up businesses and be persistent in it.

“Let us stay there for a while, learn some theories, learn from our mistakes and then correct it for the future. Try to build partnership among yourselves like other countries are doing and you build yourselves into a vibrant private sector-led business in this country,” he further said.

The regional governor said at regional level, there are small grants from FASDEP, CILIP, and NEMA projects that the youth can benefit from. 

ELIT 2016: GYIN GAMBIA Announces 1st Edition of National Summer Camp

Churchill’s Town, The Gambia – The Global Youth Innovation Network Gambia Chapter (GYIN Gambia) has today announced it will be holding a National Youth Summer Camp from July 24-31, 2016 in Jenoi, Lower River Region (LRR).

The first edition of the National Summer Camp known as “The Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Information and Technology (ELIT 2016) Summer Camp” will allow rural youths to demonstrate their abilities, plans and share among themselves, experiences in their various initiatives and ventures.

The one week event to be hosted at the Rural Farmers Training Centre will take the form of individual and group presentations, quiz, comedy, culture, etc with field visits to various locations such as agricultural project sites, cultural sites and markets. Forty (40) participants from across the six agricultural directorates are to participate in the event.

GIABA forum on emerging AML/CFT Issues in W/Africa

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has opened a “Regional Stakeholders Forum on Emerging Global AML/CFT Issues and Implications for GIABA Member States”.

The Regional Stakeholder Forum, which runs from Tuesday 16th to Thursday 18th August 2016 in Saly, Senegal was organised to inform and enlighten all stakeholders on the global emerging trends in Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, with specific aim of understanding the implications for GIABA member States. 

The Forum also sought to enlist the support and commitment of all stakeholders in the pursuit of GIABA’s mandate and rid the region of trans-national organized crimes.

Declaring the forum open, President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Marcel Alain De Souza reiterated the commitment of the ECOWAS Community to peace and security in the region through a holistic approach.

According to the President, it was important for ECOWAS to improve the multifaceted and strategic approaches and processes required to ensure the desired results in areas of regional peace and security.