Hello All,

Thanks for initiating discussions around the theme women and agriculture. It is very important to the realization of poverty reduction and climate resilience for smallholders especially in developing countries.

Under Nema Chosso Project funded by IFAD in The Gambia the target group is defined as women and youth and this defines clearly what the key activities of the project should be; ie rice and horticulture commodities and commercialization through rural entrepreneurship.

So the lessons learned are as follows:

1. To better reach out to women smallholders it is important to target the key commodities women most engage in in agricultural production;

2. Providing support for women to access capital is a catalyst for transformation of women in subsistence agriculture. Through a matching Grant scheme women beneficiaries have purchased tractors and providing important services (land preparation) around their communities, providing youth employment and generating significant incomes.

3. An innovative model called agricultural value chain interaction platform by the project has orchestrated the emergence of women and youth enterprises along the rice and horticulture value chains. Through the interaction platform information about key opportunities for entrepreneurship are discussed and shared so interested beneficiaries are supported to start and nurture business enterprises. This is complemented with some limited value chain financing.

Thanks. I am available to share more information on the experiences of the Nema Chosso Project in The Gambia , for which I am M&E Specialist and also working significantly in knowledge management and capitalization.

Best regards

Paul L Mendy
Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (Asst. Project Officer)
AfDB funded P2RS Gambia Project 1
IFAD funded National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Programme (Nema)