Female farmers posing for a group photo with their bags of fertilizer, Photo credit: ©FAOGambia/Ousman Touray

Banjul - “The lack of good quality seed and fertilizer is what is preventing us farmers from breaking the vicious cycle of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty in rural households”, said Binta Sonko, a female farmer from Dye Mandinka, who gratefully expressed how vital local quality seeds are.

In The Gambia, nearly three quarter of the national population [estimated at 1.9 million] rely on agriculture for livelihood, and 91% of the rural poor work as farmers. The agricultural sector provides employment for nearly half of the working population. , 80.7 % of which reside in the rural areas. However, access to production inputs, particularly quality seed and fertilizer, remains a major challenge.

Repeated crop failures over the past eight years, partly attributed to climate change, have continued to exacerbate the high levels of lack of access to quality seeds and fertilizer, food insecurity, youth unemployment and results in undocumented migration to Europe. According to the November 2018 CILLS Cadre Harmonize assessment and the Pre-harvest assessments in The Gambia, 99,353 people in all the six agricultural regions of the country are in need of immediate assistance. The Government of the Gambia made an appeal to the partners to provide immediate assistance to the vulnerable farmers identified as severely and moderately food insecure to prevent a further aggravation of the situation.

However one of the major challenges facing agriculture in the Gambia is the lack of a functional seed system while seed sector development remains one of the most important pillar of food crop production affecting the overall agriculture performance and economic growth.

Towards strengthening the seed sector

In line with the European Union (EU) funded project titled “Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security & Nutrition to mitigate migration flows”, FAO Gambia has over the past two years supported the strengthening of The Gambia’s seed sector through various interventions. Among other things, FAO recruited and posted an international seed expert at the National seed secretariat (NSS) laboratory who helped build the capacities of the staff in seed testing, certification, quality assurance and supervision; facilitated the development of a national seed catalogue; supported the updating of the National seed policy and formulation of the first ever national seed plan. Furthermore, the international seed expert also assisted with capacity building and extension of the pool of accredited seed growers; Support organization of regional seed fairs as a platform to enhance access to quality seed and promote the seed value chain among other things.

Therefore, following these intensive efforts aimed at strengthening The Gambia’s seed sector, the NSS was able to report in 2019 under the technical assistance of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) international seed expert, for the first time, a major achievement of having in country accredited seed growers and the availability of certified seed in-country, duly tested locally and meeting the international standard. These remarkable achievements, helped in creating an enabling environment to support the local economy through local seed procurement instead of certified seed import.

FAO was able to respond to the government request using the opportunity provided by the availability of locally certified seed growers and seed to boost economic growth and at the same time provide relief to the identified vulnerable farmers to restore their livelihoods.

The dedication of all partners has been crucial to improve the lives of so many smallholder farmers. The Gambia National Disaster Management Agency led the beneficiaries’ identification process with the support of the relevant stakeholders including farmer platform, the Department of Agriculture and The Gambia Red Cross Society. And it was the National Seed Secretariat that facilitated the certification process of seed, while the Department of Agriculture spearheaded the distribution process from June through to August 2019.

FAO procured the high quality agricultural inputs, mainly seeds and fertilizers (worth 1.108.532.97 USD) through the EU funded “Agriculture for Economic Growth” project which aims to ensure sustainable growth in the agricultural sector, reduce food insecurity and malnutrition, create an enabling environment for improved economic growth and mitigate migration flows to Europe. The four-year project is being implemented in five agricultural regions: Lower River Region (LRR), Central River Region South (CRR-North and South), Upper River Region (URR) and North Bank Region (NBR).

Immediate impact of the intervention

More than 10,000 severely food insecure farmers in these regions who require inputs support for the 2019/20 cropping season to build resilience have been reached. The quantity of high quality seeds and fertilizers received by each one is equivalent to half a hectare of land of their preferred crop varieties, be it groundnuts, maize cowpea, findi or rice. For the first time ever, all the seeds were locally procured and thus FAO and it partners have injected a whooping D31.295.410.00 (equivalent to US$625.908.20) into the rural areas in particular and the local economy in general.

Already through the platform created by the regional seed fairs organised by NSS with FAO support, majority of the accredited seed growers were able to sell certified seed and thus making it for the first time a complete seed value chain with seed produce, processed and sold in the Gambia to the Gambian.

Alignment with National, regional and global priorities

The intervention is in line with the FAO and The Gambian Government’s development cooperation for the period 2018–2021 as well as other national, regional and global plans such as The Gambia National Development Plan (NDP) 2018-2021, the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2017–2021, Africa’s Commitment to End Hunger by 2025, Sustainable production intensification and value chain development in Africa, and least but not all the Agenda 2030.

Handing over of the inputs

On behalf of The Gambian Government, FAO handed over the locally produced seeds to Mr Saikou E. Sanyang, Director General of Department of Agriculture, on 15 June at a National Seed Fair held at the Brikamaba in the CRR South.

In a statement read by Mr Saikou E. Sanyang, Director General, Department of Agriculture, on behalf of Ms Amie Fabureh, Minister of Agriculture, the intervention was lauded and described as a catalyst that improves the food quality and the nutrition security in the country. However, many more interventions are needed to ensure that enough high quality seeds are produced by the formal and informal seed producers to cover the need.

Ms Perpetua Katepa Kalala, FAO Country Representative underscored the importance of the assistance to the country noting that the intervention seeks to protect and strengthen livelihood of food insecure and vulnerable households, and explained that  ’’it will narrow agricultural inputs need of vulnerable families and contribute to increase crop production’’. Ms Katepa-Kalala thanked the EU for entrusting FAO with its resources to support vulnerable households and restated FAO’s commitment to ensure the successful implementation of the project.

Mr Muktarr Jammeh of the European Development Fund (EDF), underlined the EU’s commitment to reduce hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability to disasters by improving agricultural productivity and strengthening small farmers’ resilience to climate change. “This national seed fair for the 2019 planting season is a necessary platform to facilitate access to quality seed through enhanced trade, exchange and distribution of planting materials among farmers. We are optimistic that with this huge attendance of beneficiaries, the expected outcome of the seed fair will be achieved”, Mr Jammeh highlighted.

Ms Binta Sonko, a female farmer from Dye Mandinka in Upper Baddibou District, NBR, speaking to Foroyaa Newspaper’s Farmers’ Eye columnist, expressed gratitude to Government, FAO and the EU for the assistance. She noted that the lack of access to quality seeds and fertilizers is the main reason farmers struggle to break the fatal cycle of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty in the rural households.