Stakeholders in the Project Management Unit of the
Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP) on March 16-17,
2012 met to discuss and agree on causes of action for
project activities implemented.
PIWAMP, Project Units Coordinators, the Ministry
of Agriculture, Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN-Gambia), Upland and
Lowland Field Coordinators, and project beneficiaries gathered for the Annual
Consultative Meeting at the Rural Agricultural Farmers Training Centre at Jenoi,
Lower River Region of The Gambia.
The consultative forum affords all stakeholders the
opportunity to discuss openly critical issues affecting project implementation
and to come to terms on the way forward, explains Mr. Alagie Jatta, a representative
of the Deputy Governor of the region, LRR.
While stressing the need to devote time on the discussions
implemented projects, the ongoing projects and the planning of upcoming
projects, he said such meetings should be hold regularly to enable parties to put
up recommendations to be implemented by PIWAMP.
Opening the meeting officially, deputy permanent secretary, Ministry
of Agriculture, Mr. Asheme Cole, described the meeting as “very important” because
ideas and experiences will be shared.
He urges farmers to partake fully in the discussions
since is an opportunity for them voice out their challenges and put forward
recommendations to PIWAMP for implementation. “This is an open forum;
therefore, you need to participate actively. If you don’t speak now, tomorrow
if anything happens you should not put your blame on PIWAMP but yourselves,” he
told the farmer participants.
The “bottom-top approach meeting” followed Gambia
Government’s public declaration of a complete crop failure last year due to a
shortfall in rains.
Mr. Cole confirms government’s quest for seeds to provide
farmers with. An initiative, he said is in the government’s top agenda.
In an overview, PIWAMP Coordinator, Mr. Momodou L.
Gassama, says the project implementation in 2011, despite severe
constraints, had been very successful especially in the Watershed Development
and Capacity Building component.
As implementation of the Lowland Agricultural Development
Project (LADEP) activities progressed, it became increasingly clear
to all stakeholders that increased food security could only be achieved through
an integrated land development approach, Mr. Gassama said.
He noted that the major players on the ground realised
the need to adopt a holistic approach in addressing the land degradation issue
affecting agricultural production in The Gambia. Hence, all the ecologies in
the landscape are interlinked and cannot be targeted separately led to the
adoption of the concept of Integrated Watershed Management in the country.
A new component of PIWAMP the Sustainable Land Management
Project (SLMP) was unveiled to the forum. It will be manned by a national SLM
Coordinator assisted by two Field coordinators who will work in collaboration
with the Agricultural Regional Directorates. Key objective of the SLM is
to establish national and region SLM secretariats to harmonize and coordinate
all land management issues.
About
PIWAMP is managed by a small unit headed by a
project coordinator, two field coordinators, one managing lowland development
activities and construction (dykes, spillways, causeways and bridges) and two
upland activities personnel.
The lowland Agricultural Development project (LADEP
1997-2005) focused mainly on the development of the lowland ecologies as a
strategy to increase rice production and thereby achieve food security in the
country.
PIWAMP was establish following an agreement by
agriculture and natural resource think tanks that a new project must be
formulated to address all environmental issues leading to low agricultural
production and poor natural resource management.
They also formulated a participatory approach that ensured
beneficiaries contribution of unskilled labour during land development
while the project takes responsibility of all other costs.
The Project Management Unit (PMU) comprises a financial
controller, community mobilization officer, and monitoring and evaluation
officer aided by other support staff, field supervisors, principal officers and
conservation field assistants (CFA).
The PMU is supervised by a Project Steering Committee
(PSC) composed of permanent secretaries of ministries of agriculture and finance,
and key institutions in the ANR sector. The PSC approves the project
implementation plan, annual work plans and budgets and provides overall policy
guidance.
The PMU signs annual agreements with eight implementing
agencies (service providers), who work in collaboration with project
beneficiaries to implement activities through a participatory approach.
The 2011 annual consultative meeting also witnessed
presentations by Soil and Water Management Services (SWMS’s) Mr. Ebrima Jobe,
Agricultural Officer, Monitoring and Evaluation SWMS;
Mr. Aruna Jobe, Programme Officer Agriculture and Natural
Resources at the National Environment Agency (NEA), presented a paper on
NEA/PIWAMP partnership in Sustainable Development;
And Mr. Seedy Dampha, a Planner at the Planning Service
Unit (PSU) presented a paper on PIWAMP Draft Crop Data Report.
Author: Modou S. Joof
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