Regional delegates discussed IFAD-funded Projects in Gambia

About 300 delegates comprising representatives from IFAD-funded projects in West and Central Africa, governments’ representatives and NGOs are recently completed a meeting in The Gambia to discuss how to continuously improve the performance of IFAD-funded projects and grants in terms of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency; among other things. 

It was the 7^th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi from 12^th to 15^th November 2012 on the theme, ‘Result-based management for sustaining rural poverty reduction: lessons learned and challenges’.

Speaking at the opening of the forum on Monday, The Gambia’s Minister of Agriculture, Mr Solomon Owens, said the forum will lead to concrete conclusions and actions for enhancing the pro-poor impact of development interventions not only in The Gambia but in all the countries within our two sub-regions – West and Central Africa.

IFAD spent over US$53 million in Gambia, benefiting over 126,000 people

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has provided financing for nine projects and programmes in The Gambia amounting to US$53.7 million directly benefiting over 126,000 rural households in the country.

IFAD is operating in The Gambia since 1982 providing support and assistance to rural farmers.

Speaking at the 7th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects held in Gambia at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi from 12th to 15th November 2012, the Minister of Agriculture, Solomon Owens, said IFAD is currently supporting three major projects in The Gambia, namely: the Participatory Integrated Watershed Development Project (PIWAMP), the Livestock and Horticulture Development Project (LHDP), and the Rural Finance Project (RFP).

“These three on-going projects are all focusing on increasing agricultural production and productivity while increasing incomes of rural women and youth through appropriate land and water management technologies; improved vegetable and livestock schemes; and enhanced access to much needed financial support respectively,” Mr Owens said. 

He pointed out that the performance and impact of these projects have so far been impressive.

According to him, PIWAMP data indicate that with the project’s interventions, over 34,000 hectares of land are under crop cultivation benefiting almost 80,000 rural farmers of which 53% are women.  Through RFP support to over 60 Village Savings and Credit Associations (VISACAs) more than 32,000 rural poor people, about 40% women, are benefiting from the VISACA services.  And thorough LHDP support, 18 hectares of fodders fields have been established, directly benefiting about 1,200 small ruminant owners, 98% being women.

About 1.4 billion people still live in abject poverty globally

About a fifth of mankind still live in abject poverty, dispute the numerous national and global efforts during the past years on the first target of the Millennium Development Goals which aimed to decrease extreme poverty by one-half by the year 2015.

Abdou Touray, Programme Specialist – Poverty and MDGs at the United Nations Development Programme country office in The Gambia said as of 2011 the poorest 40 percent of the world’s population account for 5 percent of global income and the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarter of world income. 

“Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition,” Mr Touray said on Monday at the commencement of the 7th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects held in The Gambia from 12th to 15th November 2012.

According to the Mr Touray, poverty remains predominantly rural problems as the majority of the world’s poor are located in rural areas. 

He said: “It is estimated that 76 percent of the developing world’s poor live in rural areas, well above the overall population share living in rural areas, which is only 58 percent.”

Disparities between rural and urban areas are on the rise, particularly in many developing and transitional countries.

Globally, rural people and rural places tend to be disadvantaged relative to their urban counterparts and poverty rate increase as rural areas become more remote.  Individuals living in rural areas tend to have less access to social services, exacerbating the effects of rural poverty.

According to the poverty specialist, over the years there has been tremendous support to various types of interventions aimed at reducing poverty.  However, he observed that as it stands now, it looks like most developing countries particularly Sub-Saharan Africa countries will not met the Millennium Development Goals target of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

Gambia to miss the MDG target of halving poverty by 2015

Abdou Kolley, Finance Minister

With the high rate of poverty in The Gambia and the modest achievement in reducing it, there is a likelihood that the country will not met the goal number one of the Millennium Development Goals, which is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

However, the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Abdou Kolley, acknowledged that as of now the country may or not achieve the MDG target of eradicating extreme poverty.  “It’s a probability,” he confirmed, though he pointed out that the government is employing all efforts to achieve this all important MDG target and such efforts includes boosting agricultural production and productivity as it employs a large percentage of Gambia’s labour force and contributes significantly to the country’s gross domestic product.

Statistics indicates that majority of Gambia’s 1.8 million people still live in poverty despite the reported “robust economic growth” over the years.  More than 40 % of those who are employed still live below the poverty line of $1.25 per day.

Speaking on behalf of Ms Chinwe Diké UN, Resident Coordinator, on Monday at the opening of the 7th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects held in The Gambia from 12^th to 15^th November 2012, Mr Abdou Touray said given the historical trends and modest reduction in poverty levels in The Gambia, the MDG target of halving extreme poverty will not be met by the country, if efforts are not accelerated.

Regional experts meet in Gambia to discuss water management issues

Water management experts from West and Central Africa on Sunday completed a two-day meeting in The Gambia aimed at identifying what are the major constraints, issues and problems facing agricultural water management programs; what are the best ways to address these problems; and what kinds of new opportunities can be proposed for future programs.  

The experts - alongside regional and country programme managers of International fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) funded projects, government officials and policy makers in West and Central Africa - also shared the major results from recent projects implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which has implemented several projects in the region on water management.

The event on the theme, ‘Improving outcomes of agricultural water management investments:  Research results, lessons learned and innovative new opportunities’, was a pre-forum learning event of the 7th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects taking place in The Gambia from 12^th to 15^th November 2012.

 

Speaking to journalists in Banjul on Monday, Douglas J Merrey of IWMI, said water management remains one of the most significant constrains to agricultural development in Africa.

He noted that investing in small-scale interventions for improved water control can produce a dramatic impact on the productivity of agriculture.

According to him, over the years, there was not much political commitment to water management by African governments “but things are changing now as governments are more and more beginning to appreciate the impact of water management on agricultural growth and development”.

In Ghana, for example, the government is highly commitment to water management by pumping in a lot of money on water management and these monies are provided by the government itself not the donor community, Douglas said.

Many analysts believe that future increases in food supplies and economic prosperity for the rural poor will come mainly from improved agricultural water management combined with other interventions contributing to production and productivity of agriculture.

Gambia hosts regional IFAD forum

The Gambia will this year host the 7^th Regional Forum for IFAD-funded Projects from 12^th to 15^th, November 2012.

Ms Mpouma Logmo Geraldine

According to Ms Mpouma Logmo Geraldine, communication consultant of IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development – about 300 delegates comprising representatives from IFAD-funded projects in West and Central Africa, governments’ representatives and NGOs working with IFAD.  The delegates will discuss among others things how to continuously improve the performance of IFAD-funded projects and grants in terms of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency. 

This year’s theme: ‘Result-based management for sustaining rural poverty reduction: lessons learned and challenges’, reflects IFAD and Governments' determination to fulfill their promise to deliver better results that positively touches the lives of the rural poor.

Ms Geraldine said objectives of the annual forum, hosted by Gabon last year, include highlighting and sharing the knowledge, experience and lessons that have evolved during the project implementation period, including areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats to further and sustained progress.

She said the forum will give the delegates the opportunity to discuss the experiences of selected successful projects so as to learn how they effectively linked and enhanced the relationship between inputs, interventions, outputs to achieve the expected results and impacts.