Today is Africa Youth Day

AFRICA YOUTH DAY: The African Youth acknowledged as key actors towards implementing Africa’s Agenda 2063 as Africa celebrates Africa Youth Day

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1st November 2015: About 300 young Africans from the five regions of the Continent and the diaspora gathered this 1st November at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate the Africa Youth Day under the theme “African Year of Human Rights towards Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want”. 

The theme of this year’s Africa Youth Day Summit is in line with the theme of the 2016 African Union Summit “African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women”. The youth took advantage of this occasion to reiterate their willingness to be part of the implementation process of Agenda 2063, the new endogenous framework for Africa’s development.

Agricultural growth is not reaching its poverty-reducing potential in East and Southern Africa, says new IFAD report

The agricultural sector in East and Southern Africa is transforming due to increased productivity as more land is being cultivated but agricultural growth has not always led to poverty reduction; many small farmers in the region continue to live in poverty while struggling to own land and access credit, warns a new report presented in Nairobi yesterday by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

According to the Rural Development Report 2016, the picture that emerges is of an expanding agricultural sector, but one with a weak foundation that is preventing a broad-based reduction in poverty and inequality. The report shows that clear government policies and investments in smallholder agriculture can make a difference.

Opening the meeting, Lakshmi Menon, Associate Vice-President, IFAD, said the Rural Development Report “has uncovered answers to key questions about the nature, pace and direction of changes in rural areas, how they relate to a country’s overall economic development, and what that means for our efforts to improve the lives and livelihoods of rural people.”   

Green Up meets FAO

Officials of Green Up, on Tuesday 18^th October, 2016, held a courtesy call meeting with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at its office in Fajara. 

The consultative meeting was meant to officially inform the FAO Banjul office of Green Up’s objectives and progresses made.

The Green Up is a national youth-led tree planting challenge that seeks to engage young people in planting ten thousand (10,000) trees across the country. The project is implemented by Climate Watch- The Gambia (CWG) and Youth Action for Sustainable Development. 

Speaking at the meeting, the Project Manager of the Green Up, Kemo Fatty, said the initiative is aimed at planting 10,000 trees with young people of the country adding that the initiative also has a component of raising the awareness of people; especially those in rural areas about the realities of climate change and how engaging in tree planting can help boost agricultural productivity. 

To ensure food secure present, we need to address climate change- WFP

Madam Angela Cespedes

As part of commemorations marking the  the new World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director, Madam Angela Cespedes, recognised the crucial role of climate change to food, nutrition and agriculture. 

Climate change, she stated, acts as a multiplier of existing threats to food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition. It’s making natural disasters more scarce and difficult to access, affecting hardly agricultural productivity.

In the Islamic Republic of The Gambia, WFP is working in close partnership with several governmental institutions, UN agencies and other development partners to improve food security, nutrition and education to build resilience and minimise the risks of climate change. 

She adds: ‘climate change is one of the main challenges we will all need to address in order to ensure a food secure present and future for our communities’.

World Food Day is not a day for reflection; it is a day for action- FAO Boss

Dr. Perpetua Katepa-Kalala

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Representative in the Islamic Republic of The Gambia, Dr. Perpetua Katepa-Kalala  delivering a statement on World Food Day, has said that World Food Day 2016 is not a day for reflection; it is a day for action.

According to her, World Food Day 2016 is an opportunity to refocus our efforts and partnerships as we work towards mounting an immediate and comprehensive response to climate change.

Without concerted actions, millions more people could fall into  threatening to reverse hard-won gains and placing in jeopardy our ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Training on Community Fisheries Value Chain Management Underway

The Department of Fisheries with support from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the

United Nations (FAO) on Wednesday, 4 October 2016, commenced a three day training on fisheries community cooperatives in the fisheries value chain management at the NaNA conference hall.
Mr. Matarr Bah, the Director of Fisheries, described the training as important as it will help participants in the way they handle fish and fishery products at all times and also ensure that the fish they consume locally and the fish destined for export are safe.

The Fisheries Director said this is why community based organizations in the form of fisheries community cooperatives are invited to this training programme so as to enable them better to manage the fisheries value chain in their various localities to avoid wasteful post- harvest losses of fish which can result in diminished income generating capacity of fishers.

He also noted that fishing and fishery related activities are of paramount importance to the economy of The Gambia in the drive to achieve food self-sufficiency by contributing significantly to the vision and quest for food self- sufficiency as enshrine in the goal and aim of government to reach food security by 2016.

WADAF training: Gov't expresses concerns on sustainable conservation of fisheries

The West African Association for the Development of Artisanal fisheries (WADAF) recently organised a five days training on management of artisanal fishing processing sites and fisheries products. 

Participants

The purpose of the training, according to the organisers, is for stakeholders to understand the artisanal. sea products and the processing conditions as well as to how to managed fishing processing sites thus know how to process sea products eg smoking, packaging and labeling.

The regional training targeted artisanal fishermen from Sierra Leano and The Gambia and  the training was held at Nana Conference Center, in Banjul, The Gambia.

The Director of Fisheries, Mr Matarr Bah said that, the Ministry of fisheries is happy to be associated with the training whose objectives are in line with the fisheries policies of all sub regional fisheries commission member states.

"The major concern of the Government of the Gambia in the fisheries sector is the sustainable conservation of management of fisheries stocks saying that the sector plays an important contribution to food security".