10 August 2021, Rome – The Director of FAO’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division, Mr. Ye Anping, today met virtually with the Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of the Gambia, Ms. Amie Fabureh.

The meeting was a follow-up to a previous bi-lateral encounter between the Minister and the FAO Director-General, Dr. QU Dongyu, held during the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit, where both shared views on the agriculture sector of the Gambia and discussed ways in which FAO could support the country to become more self-sufficient in terms of production.

At the meeting, the Minister reiterated that the top priorities for the Gambia are rice, millet and poultry production, being key stable foods for the population, and sweet potato is also important to the country dietary and agriculture. She further stressed the need for innovation and technology to improve productivity in these key sectors, if the Gambia is to achieve higher production and food security.

Mr Ye emphasized that science, innovation and technology hold great promise for agriculture and food system transformation in the Gambia, especially in the mentioned three priority sectors for the country-- rice, millet and poultry production. “High-yield rice and millet varieties could help the country gain higher levels of productivity and contribute to the country’s endeavour to achieve food self-sufficiency”, he underscored. In this regard, “FAO is very willing to discuss with the Gambia the possibilities of strengthening South-South and triangular cooperation in the fields of rice, millet and sweet potato” he added.

The two parties had specific discussions on the form, content, and funding channels for strengthening cooperation in technical assistance and capacity building.

FAO has been at the forefront of knowledge exchange and experience sharing on sound agricultural practices and technologies through South-South and triangular cooperation, contributing significantly to improved production and productivity in staple crops in many developing countries, including rice and millet. 

A recent example is the South-South cooperation project implemented in Madagascar. Under the FAO-China South-South cooperation Programme, the country acquired a new hybrid rice variety that has yielded 9 to 11 tonnes per hectare compared with 2.8 tonnes per hectare with local cultivars. A new variety of foxtail millet introduced in Uganda through another South-South cooperation project yielded significantly higher amounts of produce than local varieties and generated higher revenue for farmers.

FAO’s representative in the Gambia, Ms. Moshibudi Rampedi, also noted FAO’s continued support to the Gambia’s sustainable development of agriculture and natural resource sectors.