By: Mariama Njie
Dr. Isatou Touray, Vice president of The Gambia has said that rice sub- sector is crucial to the development of The Gambia, noting that its main food commodity in the country with annual demand of over 200,000 metric tons with self-sufficiency rate of 17% between 2000.
She made this remark at the official launching of the Rice Value Chain Project, which was held at a local hotel on Monday.
VP Touray pointed out that, the government is aware of food insecurity in the country caused by several factors.
“In 2016 vulnerable assessment framework report result indicated that 453,000 people were at risk in terms of food security”, she said.
She explained that, agriculture is one of the cornerstones of the national development blue print and rice value chain is also one of the priority interventions targeting to increase up to 112,000mt by 2021.
According to her, the implementation of this project together with the one finance by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and BADEA will support the availability of irrigable land not for only subsistence farmers but for the private sector.
“It will also reduce postharvest losses through processing and marketing, building capacity for all actors along the rice value chain with women and youth”, she lamented.
She further explained that, the African Development Bank (AFDB) has created the enabling policy environment for active participation of agribusiness entrepreneurs in general and opportunities that exist in the rice sector of the Gambia.
She urged the private sector and stakeholders to take bold lead in this for joint realization of the significant strides made by the government and AFDB towards rice self-sufficiency in the country.
VP Touray , commended the AFDB for being one of the first institutions to respond to their call and to implement the national development plan 2018-2021.