Gambia: FAO, Partners Validate Mangroves Oyster Value Chain in Gambia

30 June 2022
The Point (Banjul)
By Isatou Ceesay Bah

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners on Wednesday validated the vision development for the Mangrove Oyster Value Chain at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The initiative is one of the twelve value chains competitively selected from over seventy-five proposals for implementation in programme for Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chains in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

The global initiative is aimed at supporting fisheries and aquaculture value chains from 2020- 2025 with a financing of 4 Million euros including technical and administrative support.

At the validation, Musa Drammeh, Minister of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, described the value chain project as timely, expressing optimism that it would go a long way in promoting investments in fisheries and aquaculture towards inclusive growth, poverty reduction and improvement of food and nutrition security while ensuring the sustainability of marine and aquatic resources.

Minister Drammeh however, reminded that upgrading of the oyster value change would also encourage sound environmental management attitudes, create employment and generate foreign exchange through the formalisation of oyster exports.

Also speaking at the forum, Moshibudi Rampedi, representative of the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, thanked their partners for making the implementation of the project a successful one.

The programme, she added, illustrates FAO's support towards the Gambia's efforts to transform aquatic food system into engines of employment and social development by improving working conditions especially for women, as well as environmental recovery and preservation of natural capital.

Anna Mbenga Cham, Director of Fisheries and Water Resources, said that the goal of the fisheries sector is to promote a vibrant fisheries and aquaculture sector through research, sustainable management and utilisation of fisheries resources that would enhance employment and livelihood opportunities, income, and foreign exchange earnings, food and nutrition as well as the role of the sector in the economic and social development of the country.

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