Minister for Agriculture has called on stakeholders to support the country’s farming community.
Amie Fabureh made the called on Wednesday in a stakeholders meeting in Banjul attended by World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) officials.
“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, different sectors of the economy are affected including agriculture. She pointed out that about 80% of the population drive their livelihoods from agricultural production activities,” she said.
She added: “Coronavirus disease 19 exposing the population to high risk of food and nutrition insecurity with far reaching consequences especially on rural households.”
According to her, the pre-harvest report 2019/2020 coincided with COVID 19 and that has made farmers more vulnerable, adding presently, the 2020/2021 cropping season is already affected due to 2019/2020 drought and the aftermath has coincided with COVID 19.
“With the current situation, the Minister said her ministry is anticipating that farmers will use seeds reserved for planting as food and sell the rest to generate income to buy other essential food commodities.
Due to the precarious situation affecting the farming fraternity, quantity of different certified seeds would be required to address the plights of farmers in The Gambia,” she said.
She called on the donor’s partners to support her ministry to address food insecurity of highly vulnerable communities based on the pre-harvest report and support to farming inputs, seeds and fertilizer for 2020/2021 cropping season among other things.
Momodou Mbye Jabang, permanent secretary ministry of agriculture also lamented on the challenges facing the farming community in the country.
He called on stakeholders to do everything possible to help farmers to overcome the impact of COVID 19 on farmers.