Browsing: The Gambia

Development fund African Development Fund
  • Sudan has stepped forward, increasing its pledge to $3 million in the African Development Fund.
  • Sudan’s pledge aligns it with other African nations, which have each committed to raise at least $1 million to the fund by 2025.
  • With backing from The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, Africa’s commitment to funding its key projects is strengthening.

African nations are coming together to secure a $25 billion replenishment for the African Development Fund (ADF), an ambitious target that signals a continent-wide push toward self-driven financing for projects.

In the latest update, Sudan has stepped forward, increasing its pledge to $3 million in this collective movement. With backing from countries including The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, Africa’s commitment to funding its development projects is strengthening.

As governments, led by the African Development Bank (AfDB), advocate for this replenishment, they set a critical precedent for financial autonomy in achieving Africa’s …

The Gambia's agriculture
  • AfDB has okayed $16 million to power The Gambia’s Agriculture and Food Security Project, aimed at enhancing food security and the incomes of vulnerable populations.
  • This funding will expand the cultivation of climate-resistant crops, increasing agricultural productivity and benefiting over 18,000 small-scale farmers, especially women and youth.
  • Beyond agricultural development, the project incorporates social security, nutrition, and gender equality initiatives, including expanding school nutrition programs for over 203,900 pupils.

A total of $16.08 million is set to enhance production for millions of people employed in Gambia’s agriculture value chain. This follows a move by the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) to approve the fresh funding allocation to enhance the Gambia’s food security initiatives.

The country’s ambitious Agriculture and Food Security Project, initiated in 2021, received the financial support on March 4. With this injection of funds, The Gambia is poised to make significant advancements in its agricultural sector, with a …

The Gambia has a small economy that relies primarily on agriculture, tourism, and remittances for support. It remains heavily dependent on the agriculture sector.  The Gambia can bank on these sectors for economic growth and to repay their debt.

Gambian agriculture has been characterized by subsistence production of food crops comprising cereals (early millet, late millet, maize, sorghum, rice), and semi-intensive cash crop production (groundnut, cotton, sesame, and horticulture). Farmers generally practice mixed farming, although crops account for a greater portion of the production.

Groundnuts are the traditional cash crop. The Gambia also exports produce to Europe; Gambian mangoes and other fruits may now be found on the shelves of the supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsburys. The Gambia’s largest trade partner is Cote D’Ivoire, a fellow Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member, from which The Gambia imports the majority of its fuel products. Other major trade partners…

Malnutrition greatly affecting Gambia's economy

Gambia’s economy is losing $83 million a year due to the effects of child undernutrition, according to a new study released in Banjul yesterday.

The loss is about 5.1 per cent of the country’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to a study by the multi-agency Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) increased healthcare costs, additional burdens to the education system and reduced workforce productivity are the ways through which losses incurred each year.

“It is alarming that we are losing 5.1 per cent of our National GDP annually because of the consequences of child undernutrition on school performance, health and productivity,” said H.E. Dr Isatou Touray, the Vice President of Gambia.

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“The Government of Gambia is committed to working with all partners through the NDP to build a prosperous nation with a healthy and well-developed human resource,” she said during the launch …