By: Nyima Sillah
Minister of Agriculture, Amie Fubureh has said that the Gambia continue to experience some setbacks in the poultry sub sector, adding that the production levels of poultry in the country are far from being able to meet the demand for poultry meat and eggs.
She made the statement at the national poultry conference on Wednesday. She stated that government is also cognizant of the fact that poultry production is one of the main farming practices among local farmers especially among the most vulnerable women and youths.
She continued that the existence of a huge potential in the Gambia poultry industry cannot be over emphasized, adding that the challenge is on all of us.
”My Ministry recognizes the contribution of livestock in general and poultry in particular to the socio economic wellbeing of the Gambia population.
She pointed out that, among the key challenges of the poultry sector that continue to bother her ministry is the perceived poor marketing prospects of locally produced poultry and poultry products as against the imported products.
”My ministry will continue to have an open door policy and is ready to work with all its partners and provide support where necessary for the possible development of the Gambia poultry sector”,
”You will agree with me that, addressing this challenge will require concerted efforts involving all the major stakeholders producers, service providers, feed and other input suppliers, policy makers, consumers, international partners”, she said.
She went further that another key factor that strongly needs to be considered is the promotion of public private partnership.
Louise Tine FAO Programme Officer said that globally the livestock system occupy about 30 percent of the planet’s ice-free terrestrial surface area and are significant global asset with the value of at least $1.4 trillion.
According to her, the livestock sector is increasingly organized in long market chains that employ around 1.3 billion people globally and directly support the livelihood of 600 million poor smallholder farmers in the developing world.
She also livestock production has been driven largely by human population growth, income-growth and urbanization, adding that as the plant become richer so does the consumption of livestock products.
“Meat production in the developing world has trebled from 45-134 million tons from 1980-2002. The FAO has predicted that by 2050 in the developing world, 326 million tons of meat and 585 million tons of diaries will require”, she said.
According to Tine, the project intervention aims to contribute to sustainable growth in the agricultural sector and reduce food insecurity and malnutrition to mitigate migration flows to Europe.
She also said that, the global challenge around food includes the unwanted environment impact of agriculture production and growing food demand due to population growth and shifting diets.