The Gambia government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Security, has launched a staggering US$1.34 million Soil Fertility Mapping Project with support from the Islamic Development Bank.
This 3-year initiative aims to map soils in key agricultural areas and provide targeted fertiliser and soil management recommendations for farmers and stakeholders.
The Regional Soil Fertility Mapping Project is expected to be implemented within three years, with the IsDB contributing US$1 million and the government of The Gambia contributing US$0.34 million.
One of the project's specific objectives is to map soils in major agricultural target areas and develop fertiliser and soil fertility management recommendations for farmers, the fertiliser industry, and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, P.S. Mod Secka, MoALFS, described the newly launched project as one of the smallest project portfolios under the Ministry; adding that nevertheless, "it is one of the most important projects. This is because it deals with the soil, which is the most important factor of production that greatly influences crop productivity.
"Crop productivity in The Gambia generally remains low despite the country's significant agricultural potential. There is a clear need for productivity enhancement, and this can be achieved through better knowledge and management of our soils," he emphasised.
According to the P.S. Secka, by the end of the 3-year implementation period, the following results are expected: better knowledge of the soil properties, soil fertility, plant nutrient status, and the factors affecting soil nutrient supply, evidence-based fertiliser, soil and crop management recommendations, site-specific fertiliser recommendations for all the major crops of the country; sustained increase of the yields and nutritional quality of the major crops, and increased returns on fertiliser investments.
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Abdoulie Touray, GIRAV project coordinator who also doubles as the CPCU coordinator, reveals that this project is unique as it is aimed at improving soil fertility. He added that one can have a good seed or finances to procure mechanisation but if the soil is poor or degraded, production would be very dormant.
Dr. Arinloye Djalal, CIFOA-ICRAF regional coordinator, stated that compared to other countries, The Gambia has made significant progress. This, he said, is because of effective management and the conducive policies that we have seen in The Gambia.
"ICRAF have been able to provide the procurement but also the instalment of the soil lab which is of high international standards because it is one of the requirements of the bank as we were going into the negotiation that we at ICRAF need to support the country to bring the status of their lab to be national and internationally accepted standard," he concluded.
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