Culled from the Observer of February 8, 2002.

IDRC delegation visits State House, horticultural project

A delegation from the International Development Research Centre, in Ottawa, Canada, led by the president, Ms Manreen O'Neil, recently paid a courtesy call on officials at the State House and also visited the Banjulinding Horticultural Garden project. “Since 1998, the International Development Research centre of Canada with keen interest in urban poverty reduction and food insecurity, has been funding an important aspect of the Market Oriented systems Improvement Programme (MOSIP) at ITC. Financial support from IDRC facilitated the successful execution of the Integrated peri-urban systems; horticulture and livestock in West African cities.

The impact of the project executed in the Gambia on the welfare and livelihood of the urban women farmers is thought to be one of the reasons for the selection of the Banjul project for the IDRC president's visit. Thus, women farmers and the horticulture industry have been the main intervention targets for obvious reasons; women empowerment and employment in order to enhance income generation. Horticulture industry due to the high demand of the produce and the considerable high residue biomass, has high potential use as feed resources. This event therefore, is a laudable milestone in the development of urban agriculture in the Gambia and the maturation process of a consolidated crop-livestock integrated process. The project in Banjulinding has proven to be a giant step in the right direction.

It would enhance improved production of vegetables, meat and milk; increase the income generation potential and the purchasing power of the women, reduction of the need for expensive agro-chemicals, thereby reducing production costs. It would also improve the general welfare of the local population and the urban farming communities”. According to the mandate of the ITC, it has responded to the increasing animal protein demand in diverse ways. One of such ventures is the genetic improvement and feed resource research aspects of their work. “Some seven years ago, ITC initiated a cross breeding programme geared towards improving peri-urban dairy production system. This was achieved by artificial insemination in a continuous FI scheme, using exotic semen of Holstein-Friesan and Jersey breeds from Europe”.