The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supported a day-long Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) Inception Workshop on Thursday, 29th December 2022. The workshop was on the diagnosis, surveillance and management of onion bulb rot, a widespread onion disease causing post-harvest losses in The Gambia. 

“The disease is highly contagious and spreads rapidly with incidences observed at both field and storage levels. There is currently no formal study on onion bulb rot to determine the pathogen and other contributing factors responsible for the disease widespread and its management techniques in The Gambia.” said Ousman Touray, who spoke on behalf of the FAO Representative.

Touray encouraged participants from the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Plant Protection Services and farmers to reflect on the causal agents of this pathogens-like contiguous disease for its better management.

“Annual productivity of onions in the country is still very low, estimated at 6,000 metric tonnes, thus the country imports approximately 14,000 metric tonnes each year. The low annual productivity may be attributed to the limited availability of quality seeds, pests and diseases prevalence, exacerbated by storage losses of 20 to 50 per cent depending upon the location, environment, and prevalent diseases causal agents. Onion bulb-rot disease affects onions production  in established Community Vegetable Gardens, culminating in significant yield and storage losses”

 The Director of the National Research Institute Dr Demba B Jallow and Foday Jadama of the Department of Agricultural Services, all spoke of the need to end what they called a nightmare, to fulfill the national demand for onion.

 The Gambia requires about 25 000 metric tons of onion bulbs per annum. Unfortunately, the country may with adequate support produce about 14,544 thousand metric tonnes of onion annually. The gap is substituted by imports which add further pressure to the meagre financial resources of the country thereby limiting the possibility to invest in other sectors of the economy.” Dr. Jallow explained.

 Fatoumatta Jobe a farmer from the Kololi Women’s Garden, described the workshop as timely, she believes the outcome of the TCP will address the problem she and her colleagues face.

 Onions are one of the most commercially grown commodities in The Gambia, contributing to the commercialization of rural economy and generating many off-farm jobs. They are highly nutritious and contain some important vitamins (A, B and B2) and minerals (Ca, P, Fe, Cu and Zn) in addition to some soluble sugars and nicotinic acid.

 However, in the past year farmer-folk reported the presence of pathogen-like disease found to be highly contagious and spreading rapidly in the Gambia. The incidences of the disease were observed at both field and storage levels. The findings prompted  FAO to fund mitigation measures through a TCP.