Gambia, Saudi Sign $92.5Million OIC Funding Agreement

Signing Ceremony at State House 

State House, Banjul: June 20, 2019 – His Excellency, President Adama Barrow today presides over the signing of a $92.5million funding agreement between the Saudi Fund for development and the Republic of the Gambia at the State House. Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Saudi Fund for Development, Dr. Khalid S. Alkhudairy and the Gambia’s Finance Minister, Mamboury Njie penned the agreement on behalf of their respective countries.

The funding is meant for several priority infrastructure and energy projects that will facilitate the Gambia’s hosting of the OIC Summit in 2022. Among these projects are the construction of a 50kilometre road network within the OIC concentrated area, enhancement of the transmission and distribution network for the electricity grid, enhancement of water production, treatment and distribution and the Construction of a new VVIP Lounge at the Banjul International Airport.

Subject of Mockery turns to Source of Inspiration

GYINer Amie Colley

As young entrepreneur breaking records in her community

By Mariam Saine

Meet Amie Colley, a young entrepreneur from Somita Village, West Coast Region (WCR) has told Mansa Banko that market vendors especially women in her community used to make mockery of her for being an educated young woman and at the same competing with them at the market as a vegetable vendor. 

Mrs. Colley is an active member of the Global Youth Innovation Network Gambia Chapter (GYIN Gambia Chapter)- www.gyingambia.gm 

Today, according to her, with the help of her food processing trainings, she is serving as a role model and source of inspiration to them as most of them are now learning from her skills.

She is the proprietress of Amie’s Food Processing and Commercialization. Her brand includes pepper sause, Kaba Jam, Papaya Jam, Mango Jam, Tomato Paste, Gari, Garlic Syrup, Bitter cola and Ginger syrup, etc.

On Nema Project’s Largesse to 14 Youth Groups

Musa Bah from Wassu, Central River Region North (GYINer)

By Mariam Saine

As part of its intervention to support youth and women in agricultural production and productivity, the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project, dubbed Nema, on Friday, 21 June, 2019 handed over sixteen (16) rice and cereal processing machines and accessories to fourteen (14) youth groups across the country.The presentation of the items was held at a colorful ceremony at the Nema office in Abuko.

The provision of the said equipment, made possible through the Nema Matching Grant facility, is geared towards ensuring that the intended services are provided to the smallholder farmers.

Agricultural Minister Launches National Seed Plan

Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Amie Fabureh

By Mamadou Edrisa Njie

The Minister of Agriculture (MoA), Hon. Amie Faburay on Thursday, 20^th June, 2019 has presided over the launching of the National Seed Plan at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.

The launching was organized by the National Seed Secretariat (NSS) under the Ministry of Agriculture with support from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (F.A.O) Banjul office- www.fao.org/world/gambia through the European Union (EU) funded project dubbed “Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security/Nutrition to mitigate Migration flows.

The National Seed Plan was developed to promote production, availability and utilization of quality seed that would improve agricultural productivity and contribute to economic growth of The Gambia.

“Quality seeds constitute a prime prerequisite in agriculture and the basis of agricultural productivity, which is part of a critical importance to the government of The Gambia, since the national economy and food and nutrition security depends on a successful local agriculture,” says the Agricultural Minister.

The Ministry of Agriculture, she added, has long pursued the establishment of seed industry structures, policy and programs that would support the Gambia’s agriculture.

GYIN Gambia ELIT 2019 Summer Camp to Hold on July 21 in Basse

ELIT summer camp on a field visit at Ever Green  

Churchill’s Town, June 20, 2019 -- The 4^th edition of the National Youth Summer Camp on Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Information Technology (ELIT) will be held in Basse, Upper River Region (URR) from 21 – 31 July, 2019.

This year’s 10-day youth camp will allow young people to acquire relevant knowledge and skills to start and successfully manage an enterprise or business ventures, the organizer, GYIN Gambia said in a statement on Thursday.

It is to be held under the theme ‘Transforming youth into agents of change in agribusiness ventures’. Sixty (60) participants selected from across the six Agricultural Directorates in The Gambia are to take part in the camp.

New policies and investments urgently needed in support of rural youth in poorest countries, says a new UN report

Rome, 18 June 2019 –  Effective policies and investments are urgently needed if the world's poorest countries are to offer a future to hundreds of millions of marginalized young people living in rural areas, according to a new report released today by the United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The 2019 Rural Development Report - Creating opportunities for rural youth shows that about 500 million young people, about half of the youth population of developing countries, live in rural areas.  This number rises to 780 million  when  semi-rural and peri-urban areas are included. These young people are prone to poverty and inequality and are held back by a series of constraints, including lack of training and skills, limited access to land and credit,  scarce availability of inputs and restricted links to social networks. 

Six cooperatives supported by Nema-Chosso generate D11M

Nema-Chosso Project Director, Mr. Gassama

By Mamadou Edrisa Njie

In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, 18^th June, 2019, with the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (Nema), Mr. Momodou L. Gassama, the Project Director, gave the latest updates on some of the project’s success with special focus on support to cooperatives and linkages between producers, economic operators and other actors of the value chain. These initiatives have been ongoing since the start of project implementation in 2012.

“Over the last 2 years, the cooperatives have generated cumulative savings of more than eleven million dalasis (D11,000,000,000) from the purchase and sale of fertilizer alone,” he disclosed.

According to him, the six cooperatives were created in the cluster areas of: Boiram and Kudang in Central River Region South (CRR South), Bajarally Suba in Central River Region North (CRR North), Jurunku and Salikene in North Bank Region (NBR) and Pakalinding in Lower River Region (LRR).