Fishing communities along The Gambia’s coast and riverbanks face challenges from overfishing and declining marine resources. Mangrove forests, key for fish nurseries and carbon storage, are degrading. More frequent climate shocks are also reducing the productivity of those who rely on these ecosystems for food and income...

11 May 2026 – On Monday,  May 11, 2026, young stakeholders reviewed The Gambia’s Food Systems Pathway in a bid to align this national document with the priorities of young agri-entrepreneurs. The Food System’s Pathway is The Gambia’s National Roadmap for transforming its food systems to become more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and nutrition sensitive. Monday’s convergence brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, civil society actors, and development partners, who collectively explored practical solutions for building more resilient and inclusive food systems. They reflected on the need to better align policies, knowledge, and community realities to support sustainable agricultural development across the country...

04 May 2026 – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with Gambia Tech, Alliance Française de Banjul, and partners, held a four-day Training of Trainers (ToT) for 18 business coaches under the Agri-Accelerator initiative 2.0 initiative. The five-day event commenced on Monday, 4 May at Alliance Francaise Banjul, The Gambia. The training brought together business coaches and advisors. It aims to strengthen their capacity to support youth-led agribusinesses through practical, investment-focused approaches...

Going into the Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0 Training of Trainers on investment readiness, business coaches, including Madeline Ileleji, Pa Musa Sidibeh, and 14 other business coaches and consultants arrived with high expectations and a renewed sense of purpose. Their confidence in the programme was inspired by the impact of the first Agri-Accelerator training on Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) in 2025, which equipped them with practical skills to support young entrepreneurs across The Gambia...

Before the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) arrived, the women of Medina Sering Mass grew vegetables on a patch of land so small and so exposed that a single night could undo weeks of labour. Stray animals wandered in freely. There was no fence, no reliable water, no storage. The soil gave what little it could, and the women made do...

In Jerikaw, a farming community in The Gambia’s North Bank Region, the months after harvest used to be an anxious time. Families who had worked their fields through the rainy season would store their cereals at home, only to watch a share of the crop disappear, to rodents gnawing through sacks, to theft in the night, or, in the worst cases, to fire. The losses were not just material. They eroded the food reserves that families depended on to eat, to feed their livestock and to earn an income at market...

Kumba Ndow does not talk about her five-hectare Gui Jahanka Women’s Garden the way most people talk about a piece of land. She talks about it the way you would talk about a turning point, the moment something shifted and never quite shifted back...

24 April 2026 - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the African Risk Capacity (ARC) and national partners, have validated the Gender and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Analysis and Action Plan following a day-long interactive review session in Banjul, The Gambia. The session was attended by government institutions, Civil Society Organisations, and women-led groups, all united by a shared purpose to ensure that resilience is built for everyone...

Jenoi, Lower River Region, The Gambia - In rural areas of The Gambia, the outcome of agricultural seasons is frequently determined by seed quality. Groundnut, serving as the main cash crop, accounts for employment of over 70 percent of the active agricultural workforce. However, many smallholder producers face ongoing challenges in accurately identifying healthy seeds and detecting disease, limiting their productivity.

Basse, The Gambia - In many communities across The Gambia, concerns about development projects often go unheard, not because they are irrelevant, but because there is no clear channel through which to raise them. A series of training sessions held recently in the Upper River Region (URR), Central River Region (CRR), North Bank Region (NBR), Lower River Region (LRR) and West Coast Region (WCR) is changing that...

18 April 2026 - Nineteen years after forming TRY Oyster Women Association in 2007, hundreds of women oyster harvesters on Saturday, 18 April 2026, marked National Oyster Day with pride, in a celebration held under the theme: Promoting a sustainable and inclusive oyster value chain in The Gambia...

For years, Alfu Sarr, a native of Ndofan in Niumi, North Bank Region, cultivated his one-hectare garden with the only way he knew: trial, error, and instinct.  Despite his efforts, limited technical knowledge only meant his yields and profits never quite matched his potential. “I had few equipment, but I didn’t have the knowledge to use everything effectively,” he admits...

Soma - The Regional Agriculture Director in the Lower River Region (LRR), Lamin Sanyang, has praised support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for making a visible difference in the lives of farmers across the region. From improved access to quality seeds and fertilizers to the establishment of community gardens and Farmer Field Schools, FAO’s interventions continue to shape agricultural development in practical and meaningful ways...

Choya - In Choya, a community of roughly 75 households in Niamina District, Central River Region, daily life has long been shaped by scarcity. Around 600 people call this place home, and during the dry season, when farming activity declines, livelihoods become especially precarious. With few alternatives available, many residents turn to firewood collection as a source of income, exhausting work that drains energy and erodes local forest cover...

Jenoi - Every three days before dawn, Ebrima Fatty’s mother loads two baskets of okra, two baskets of tomatoes, and a basket of cucumber onto a vehicle headed for the weekly market in Jarra Soma. The produce comes from her son’s one-hectare garden in Jenoi, of Lower River Region (LRR) a farm that, just a few years ago, did not exist...

Old Jeshwang - Recently, twenty-five participants from across The Gambia’s oyster sector, harvesters, processors and hospitality professionals, gathered for an intensive, hands-on course in food safety and quality assurance, organized under FISH4ACP, a global fisheries and aquaculture value chain programme led by the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with funding from the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)...

The International Day of Forests, 21 March 2026  provides an opportunity to acknowledge the essential contributions forests make to sustaining life on Earth. The 2026 theme,“Forests and Food,” underscores the significance of forests not only as ecological resources but also as integral components of global food systems, supporting nutrition, livelihoods, biodiversity, and climate resilience. From providing fruits and nuts to facilitating pollination, forests play a foundational role in supporting human well-being and environmental stability...

The Climate Resilient Fishery Initiative for Livelihood Improvement in The Gambia (PROREFISH Gambia) project personnel recently conducted field missions to monitor the mangrove restoration sites in rural areas of the Gambia (4th to 10th March 2026)...

Banjul, 10 March 2026 - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Government of The Gambia, and the People’s Republic of China today officially launched a USD 1.5 million project aimed at transforming rice and millet food systems in The Gambia. The project, funded through the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund, was launched at a high-level ceremony attended by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security,  Ambassador of the People’s Republic of  China to The Gambia, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Centre (FECC), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the People’s Republic of China, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Director of FAO’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division, development partners, and senior government officials...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently welcomed the first cohort of agricultural experts from the People’s Republic of China. The deployment is part of China’s support to The Gambia’s food security efforts under the South-South Triangular Cooperation Programme. This programme will support and provide technical assistance and capacity building with emphasis on rice and millet production, marketing, and value chain strengthening...