Bilateral meeting with the Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of The Gambia - The Honourable Demba Sabally

Rome - Director-General QU Dongyu and The Honourable Demba Sabally, Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of The Gambia, met following the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, which took place at FAO Headquarters from 24 to 26 July 2023.

The Minister congratulated the Director-General for his re-election and thanked him for his ongoing support to The Gambia’s new Green Recovery-Focused National Development Plan and Financing for the Agriculture Sector. He proceeded to share with the Director-General the details of the country’s work to increase rice production, through improved agronomic practices and postharvest processes, and in this regard he requested addition FAO technical support.

The Director-General thanked the Minister and reiterated the strong commitment of the Organization to support The Gambia. He proceeded to applaud the Minister for the strong focus on the agriculture sector and underlined the need to place attention on innovation and hybrid modalities to increase productivity.  

The Director-General and the Minister shared ideas on ways to increase productivity of rice through improved storage and market facilities, and how to ensure readily accessible innovations for small holder farmers.