By: Katibi Yaffa
Agricultural extension officers play a pivotal role in the overall agricultural development of any country. Extension officers are intermediaries between researchers and farmers. They operate as facilitators and communicators, helping farmers in their decision-making and ensuring that appropriate knowledge is implemented to obtain the best results with regard to sustainable production and general rural development.
In The Gambia, the agricultural sector is the main driver of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and the most important source of the country’s economy, with two-thirds of the population’s livelihood depending on it.
Despite all their relevance, extension officers in The Gambia continue to face multiple challenges, including low remuneration and incentives, inadequate in-service training, lack of appropriate technology, as well as poor linkages with research and farmers. In all these menaces, the farmers -who are the main actors in the agricultural value chain – ultimately bear the full brunt.
Photo: Extension worker, Assan Njie, and her colleague – Christiana Therese Ndecky – training traditional communicators on Onion Post-harvest Management at a WACOMP-GM training in Soma, LRR.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) under its West Africa Competitiveness Programme – The Gambia (WACOMP-GM) rolled out numerous training initiatives aimed at strengthening their competence and keeping them updated with international agronomic best practices.
With support from the European Union (EU), the project has provided a series of capacity building trainings for extension workers to enhance their skills and knowledge –so as to increase efficiency and productivity in the onion value chain.
WACOMP-GM has trained over 100 extension workers in West Coast Region (WRC), Lower River Region (LRR), North Bank Region (NBR), and Central River Region (CRR) – touching the lives of onion producers in 120 gardens across the country.
Assan Njie, 28, is one of the beneficiaries of WACOMP-GM’s interventions. He participated in many capacity building workshops, including on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), Post Harvest Management Practices, Market Requirements for Onions, Jokkalante Marketing Platform.
He works in CRR as an extension officer – supervising over 5 gardens, including Nanaba, Jahuar Mandinka, Kaur Touray-kunda, Jenju Wollof, and Jahuar Jahanka.
Like many other extension workers in The Gambia, Assan was operating on the old methods in post-harvest handling of onions in the gardens he supervises.
“The trainings I have participated in have helped enhanced the quality of my work. Now I am better equipped with not only the knowledge but also the techniques of how to work with farmers to share the lessons learned. The gardens I supervise now properly cure and dry their onions before they store them. They now experience fewer post-harvest losses due to WACOMP-GM’s capacity building support,” Assan said.
The project is strengthening the country’s technical competencies, capabilities and capacities of quality infrastructure institutions and conformity assessment service providers to better respond to agri-food sector needs. An effective quality infrastructure system is necessary to provide confidence to buyers, users and regulators that products are compliant with market requirements.
The WACOMP-GM trainings, targeting extension workers such as Assan, are also strengthening compliance capacity of upstream value chain actors such that products meet mandatory and voluntary quality parameters, including that of food safety, which is a non-negotiable credence attribute for consumers.
They have immensely improved his knowledge and skills – making his work effective and less tedious as an agricultural extension officer. He is now helping 807 farmers across Lower and Upper Saloum districts, out of which only 24 are male.
“With the new skills I have learned from the WACOMP-GM trainings, my work is now much easier. Most of the people who work in the gardens I supervise can apply these skills and knowledge I have learned and shared,” he added.
Due to his dedication, Assan participated in a WACOMP-GM training of traditional communicators in June 2024, where he trained the participants on best agronomic practices.
He testified: “HACCP is another important piece of knowledge that has helped me a lot. I was trained as one of the extension facilitators to help raise the awareness of farmers in providing clean and hygienic products to the communities they serve.”
The National Horticulture Value Chain Expert of the project, Malamin Drammeh, said the importance of extension workers in the successful implementation of their project cannot be overstated.
“WACOMP-GM is committed to sustainable agriculture. Given that the project is timebound, we have strengthened the Ministry of Agriculture by training extension workers and working with them to improve farmers’ knowledge and application of standard agronomic practices,” Drammeh said.
He added: “Before the intervention of WACOMP-GM, onion producers used to encounter a lot of post-harvest losses. This is because they prematurely harvest their onions. However, with the skills and knowledge provided to extension workers during our trainings, farmers now allow their onions to reach the maturity period before harvesting, curing, and sorting.”
With a growing population, a shrinking land base, and emerging threats of climate change, agricultural transformation has become a high priority in enhancing productivity and conserving natural resources in The Gambia. More training of extension workers is needed to address the pressing challenges of food insecurity and poverty, as well as to protect livelihoods and enhance economic growth.
