By Binta Jaiteh
The National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) in partnership with the Gambian government has trained twenty-one stakeholders on farm seedling.
The training of the twenty-one stakeholders was held at Sapu village in Central River Region.
Speaking at the opening ceremony the director of National Agriculture Research Institute Dr. Demba B Jallow said they are training 21 individuals from different institutes on how to grow seeds, of high yielding varieties should be improved like NERICA 19 and Ortrylux 6
According to him, rice is a staple food in the Gambia, which is an evidence to increase annual per capital consumption of the staple food. He noted that imports are growing at the fastest rate than local production in order to increase the local demand.
Mr Jallow added that, the production gap and import bill are increasing and it will represent a huge drain on the National budget.
Meanwhile, he said the Gambia Government has identified rice as a major food NRDS in 2014 -2024, founded on a vision of RSS with a production target of more than 300, 000 of milled rice.
He disclosed further that the outputs and productivity will be accompanied by promoting and supporting the use of yield enhancing technologies.
“The role of the research is the key in the transformation of rice sector is very important because improvement in rice productive is crucial for reducing poverty in the country,” he noted.
Dr. Lamin B Sonko highlighted that, the Government and NARI are ready to help on how the project will be a successful one.
In addition, the need for the costly import would decrease if local rice production and quality of milled and parboiled rice were enhanced.