Banjul, The Gambia - 21 October 2024, on the sidelines of World Café Training Method on “Innovative Solutions for Cassava Postharvest Loss and Waste Reduction in The Gambia”, an inclusive and collaborative meeting was held between the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to retrieve views on how challenges across cassava value chain will be identified and addressed in order to achieve sustainable food security focusing loss and waste reduction of the crop.
Dr. Mustapha Ceesay and Ms Sarah Razafindramana, Assistant FAO Representatives in charge of Programmes and the Regional Officer, West and Central Africa at the FAO and UN Women respectively, familiarized with inclusive collaboration between UN Women and IOFS and the role of the organizations to address food security crisis in The Gambia and beyond. Ms Razafindramana further reaffirmed the UN Women’s commitment to support and empower smallholder farmers especially women to solve the problems of food insecurity and also enhance their means of livelihood through active participation in the cassava value chain.
On the part of IOFS, Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, Director of Projects Department, welcomed the significance of close collaboration and working together with UN Women and government of The Gambia are of paramount importance to materialize all necessary needs and priorities for a better development of cassava value chain in The Gambia.
It must be mentioned that Dr. Abubakar Ahmad, Dr. David Sohinto and Dr. Williams Agyei-Manu, the IOFS Cassava Program Consultants, presented valuable insights and also facilitated a world café training method and received feedback from the participants for further consideration by the collaborative organizations.
In opening remarks of the hosting country, HE Dr. Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security of the Republic of The Gambia, addressed the audience to welcome the innovative solutions across all cassava value chain that will be provided throughout the event for the benefit of Gambian Cassava farmers particularly women. The Honorable Minister also emphasized the importance of postharvest management practices in addressing food security in Gambia loss and waste reduction. The opening ceremony was moderated by H.E. Musa Humma, Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security. He focuses on the importance of partnership and joint activities to support regional food security.
