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.

At the helm of the presentation ceremony was the Gambia’s first female Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Amie Fabureh, who informed her audience that Nema’s agribusiness development facility, which is the Capital Investment Stimulation Fund (CISF) or Matching Grant facility, was designed around the process of innovating, developing and building medium-term financial services adapted to women and youth groups, as well as individual-based Small and Medium Enterprises.

She explained that innovative elements of the proposed scheme include the tripartite contribution to the scheme based on the promotion of commodities value chain development, ensuring that services are rendered through a partnership between producer organisations, public and private sectors equipment suppliers.

The minister noted that last year, five tractors were handed over to the farming community and again on that day,they witnessed the handing over of a total of 16 processing machines and accessories to youth groups and individual enterprises.

This, Madam Fabureh indicated, is a demonstration that the value chain is working through the matching grant alone, as Nema had previously supported over 20 enterprises in the downstream end of the value chain by providing tractors, power tillers, solar irrigation system, etc.

Commenting further on the initiative, she thanked that Government of the Gambia and its development partners, as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for taking lead in the development of the agriculture sector in the Gambia, and also for demonstrating their commitment to invest in youths.

The Project Director of Nema, Mr. Momodou L.Gassama, speaking at the event said Nema is a value chain project focusing on rice and vegetable value chains, and targeting youth and women. It seeks to increase food security, incomes and reduce food importation.

Gassama pointed out that the project has invested heavily primarily on production through the construction of water control infrastructure to support lowland and upland development, tidal irrigation and vegetable garden schemes.

In achieving full implementation of the value chain, the project Director believes it’s necessary to support the upstream activities such as processing, transportation and marketing, adding that the project has targeted youth groups and individual in the rural areas and provided them with requisite capacity building to ensure that this objective of driving the upstream value chain activities is achieved.

As he pinpointed, the other important support is facilitated through the Matching Grant to establish youth enterprises that would provide services to the producers, expand the rural economy and also create employment for the rural youth.

Refreshing the history of Nema Project’s funding envelope, Project Director Gassama informed the ceremony that, the project is co-financed by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) comprising the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of the Gambia (GoTG), with IFAD as the lead development partner financing over 50 per cent of the project.