Gambia

AFRICAN SOIL PARTNERSHIP
WORKSHOP
20-22 MAY 2015, ACCRA, GHANA
TOPIC: GAMBIA; NATIONAL
PRIORITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE
SOIL MANAGEMENT
PRESENTATION BY
ABDOU RAHMAN JOBE

INTRODUCTION
 The Gambia :
 a sub-tropical and Sub-Saharan country
on the West Coast of Africa
lying between latitudes 13 and 14 degrees
north of the equator

INTRODUCTION Contd.
Five Administrative Regions:
West Coast Region [WCR]
North Bank Region [NBR],
Lower River Region [LRR],
Central River Region [CRR]
Upper River Region [URR]
Municipal Council (KMC) and Banjul City
Council (BCC).

Agriculture
 Gambia’s agricultural sector consists of
four sub-sectors:
 crops
livestock and poultry
research and development
agricultural service providers

Agriculture is predominantly subsistence
uses little mechanization, few inputs, and
rain-fed, with very little irrigation.
agricultural productivity is low
and the sector is vulnerable to droughts

Agriculture contd.
Government developed strategies for
poverty alleviation and linked them to the
attainment of the MDGs
ANR (top priority) development
mainstreamed into other national policies
a number of international donor-funded
projects have been or are being
implemented.

Climate
Sahelian climate;
 characterized by a long dry season
(November to May) and
 short wet season (June to October)
early 2000s, mean annual rainfall
increased slightly to about 800 mm
Average temperatures range,18°C to
30°C- dry season and 23°C to 33°C- wet
season

Land Use and Degradation
Gambia has a total land area of about
1.04 million Ha;
of which 558,000 hectares (or 54 percent)
are arable
30% (96,000 Ha) of the cultivated area
devoted to groundnut production
coarse grains, rice production account for
144,000 Ha and 72,000 Ha, respectively

Land Use and Degradation
Gambia, one of the Sub-Saharan African
countries most seriously affected by land
degradation;
rate of erosion of Gambian coastline
estimated at 1-2 metres per year
amounts to a land loss averaging 2.5 to
3.0 Ha per year or 200,000 - 300,000 m3
/yr
equivalent to approximately 323,000 to
492,000 tonnes of soil los per year.

Government efforts
• In an effort to deal with the situation;
• projects on soil/land management
implemented with varying levels of
successes achieved and useful lessons
learnt

Efforts contd.
• E.g. LADEP
• Global Environmental Facility Project
• Participatory Integrated Watershed
Management Project
• National Agricultural Land and Water
Management Development Project
• Sustainable Land Management Project

Some activities carried out in
soil management
• Reduction of erosion on the upland
– Promotion of contour farming by extension services
– Planting of windbreaks on farm boundaries
– Construction of water diversion bonds in the upland
– Crop rotation
•
• Minimizing siltation/deposition in the lowlands
– Gully stabilization and control
– Construction of graded contour bonds on the upland
•
• Reduction or halting of salt water intrusion in the lowland rice fields
– Construction of anti-salt water intrusion dikes
– Construction of water retention dikes for rice cultivation
– De-salinization activities
•
• Production of soil maps (Manual)

Oyster Shells used for Liming (Jurunku)

Gambia National Priorities for SSM
Gambia’s soil resources have declined in
productivity as a result of;
• soil erosion, low soil nutrient content, and
adverse changes in their biological,
chemical, physical, and hydrological
properties.
Therefore, need for sustained efforts at
addressing the degradation problem
through promoting and scaling up of SSM
in The Gambia, therefore remains relevant

 Capacity Building for SSM at all Levels:
 Efforts aimed at SSM in the country will
not succeed if there is no capacity on the
ground to implement the initiatives, no
matter how well-thought out they are

 Need for assessment of the human
resources and institutional environment at
all levels (national and decentralized) to
determine their readiness for supporting
SSM interventions
This process will encourage individual
stakeholder institutions to undertake self-
assessment of their strengths and
limitations

 Developing Effective SSM Knowledge
Generation and Management, M&E and
Information Dissemination Systems
The inadequacy of data and the fact that
much of the data available is outdated are
constraints
 Need for updating the 1976 national land
resources study, development of new
soil/natural resources and development
policies

 Support for knowledge sharing and
innovation networks
This will support knowledge and
innovation networks as well as sharing
experiences within the Gambia and with
other Sub-Saharan Africa countries;
will also support networking with other
regional and international SSM and land
administration networks and programs

 Provision & acquisition of adequate
modern soil testing materials and
equipment
These range from field and lab testing to
digital map production equipment and
material

Sustainability
 Financial sustainability of SSM strategies
expected to be pursued through;-
mainstreaming the concepts and principles
of SSM into national economic
development and sectorial
policies/strategies of the Government and
other development and technical
institutions

Gambia

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