The Africa Emergency Locust Project (AELP) Gambia office, was on Monday officially launched by Dr Badara Loum, Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Agriculture, on behalf of the Secretary of State at a ceremony held at its new building in Abuko.

The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of The Gambia in order to prepare and implement programmes and actions designed to prevent, control and manage desert locust infestations within its territory and in the sub-region; mitigate its economic, environmental and social impact on agricultural production, livestocks and food supply.

Officially launching the project, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Kanja Sanneh, Badara Loum, Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Agriculture (DOSA), said the launch of the Africa Emergency Locust Project, The Gambia Office, is a ‘historic and timely event’ in the development of agriculture, in particular, in the fight against desert locust menace, which poses a serious threat to food security and poverty alleviation in the sub-region.

According to him, FAO has reported the presence of adult locust population in Mauritania on 13th October, 2006, adding that the adult population are breeding, while new generations are expected and continued to breed.

He noted that in October, 2004, Mauritania was the centre of locust episode, resulting in locust invasion in several countries, including The Gambia.

“ The Gambia government under the directives of His Excellency, Alhagie Yahya Jammeh timely responded to the crises and deployed 6 locust teams to Senegal and 3 locust teams to Mauritania, to help control the locust infestations.
The President also donated funds to the government of Senegal and Mauritania, and funded logistics throughout the duration of the teams deployed in these countries. Presently the government of Mauritania with support and assistance from the FAO, World Bank and other donors, are working hard to control the locusts to prevent them from invading other countries,” he explained.

PS Loum noted that as a result of this situation, the Department of State for Agriculture, in collaboration with other stakeholder institutions has taken the necessary actions to enhance The Gambia’s preparedness. He added that DOSA has also instructed the locust project for a collaborative intervention in order to fight any future locust invasions; prevent economic damage and losses, which could have significant impact and setbacks on the economies.

He revealed that the implementation of the AELP project started after the fulfilment of project effectiveness, adding that the World Bank Supervision Mission visited The Gambia in October, 2005 and authorised the Project Coordinator to start the implementation pending the approval of the work plan and budget.

The project, he added, is implemented by the Project Implemented Unit (PIU) as established under DOSA, in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural Services and other stakeholders institutions, noting that the procurement and financial management of the project is the responsibility of the PIU as established under the Capacity Building and Economic Management Project (CBEMP).

He then stated that The Gambia Government shall implement the project in close coordination with the participating countries, FAO, CILLS Desert Locust Control Committee in the Western Region, the International and Regional Organisations and programmes, donors and Non-Governmental Organisation.

In his welcoming remarks, Bai Ebrima Seck, the Project Coodinator, Africa Emergency Locust Project, The Gambia Office, said normally projects are launched at the commencement of the project, but the launch of this project was planned to coincide with the visit of the World Bank Task Team Leader of the project and the completion of the newly rehabilitated Project Implementation Unit (PIU) office at Abuko, and the first anniversary of the locust project, following the visit of the World Bank start-up mission in The Gambia, in 25th-28th October, 2006.

Mr Secka assured that the locust project has the capacity to fight and control any future locust invasion. “Because The Gambia government has made significant investments and acquired the required equipment, human and financial resources back-up, with national and divisional structures and coordinating mechanisms and a newly rehabilitated PIU office, The Gambia has trained pilots and mechanics for a well- trained ground teams. My immediate needs are additional vehicles for the locust teams, payment of the Aircraft Insurance and duty- waiver to purchase fuel for the locust teams. The project is expected to contribute significantly towards the attainment of the policy objectives of the Department of State for Agriculture by controlling economic pests of field crops,” he stated.

According to him, this can only happen if The Gambia government seeks the approval of the World Bank in order to expand the mandate of the project during the mid-term review of the project in December, 2006, urging experts to provide good suggestions for the expansion of the project.

The project boss then commended President Yahya Jammeh, the Gambian leader and the government, and people of The Gambia for their valuable contributions towards locust control, and the FAO, World Bank, donors and friends of The Gambia for their unflinching support.

Amadou Alasane, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the Africa Emergency Locust Project asserted that during the 2004/05 locust invasion, the World Bank, following the assessment of the desert locust infestation reports in the North West of Africa and the Sahel, and its impact on food security and livelihood of the affected farmers, felt there is an urgent need for the bank to respond to the crisis in order to control locust invasion.

“To this end, the bank through consultations with the donors and countries affected, convened a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, in September, 2004, to the effect. The Bank approved an emergency credit package of US $60,000,00 for the Africa Emergency Locust Project involving seven countries, namely:Burkina Faso, Mali Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Senegal and The Gambia.

“The project focused on wide areas of locust control and prevention, in which the bank has a comparative advantage on the provision of quick financial assistance”, he added.

According to him, the objective is to help reduce the hardships imposed on people and the environment by current and future locust invasions. These hardships, he said, does not only include the immediate effects of losses to crops and livestocks , but also delayed effects from lost productive assets, and reduce income opportunities.

Mr Alasane then revealed that the objective of the project could be achieved through regional collective action and by helping countries to manage and control locust infestations; mitigating the effects of locust infestation on people and the environment, helping to ensure a timely reaction to future infestations in Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Senegal and The Gambia.

“The project also includes a number of emergency activities, post-emergency recoveries activities. These activities have been divided into four main components: Emergency Locust Management, Emergency Agricultural Investments, Early Warning and Response, Project Management and Coordination,” he said.

The World Bank Africa Emergency Locust Task Team Leader noted that the Bank, in consultation with the donors- International and Regional Programmes has given the FAO the lead role to coordinate the project, in consultation with participating countries affected by the locusts, and to better harmonise donor effects and avoid duplication and waste of resources. To this end, he said, the contingency planning and coordination meeting were held to develop action plans and budget with trigger mechanisms to respond to different scenarios, capacity-building programmes, research and development of alternatives control methods by using environmentally-friendly products.

He asserted that the responsibilities of the bank during supervisory missions is to monitor the performance of the project and provide appropriate support, guidance and assistance to the PIU, solve their constraints and improve project implementation in order to achieve the objectives of the project.

“To this end, I am pleased to report that the Bank will conduct a mid-term review of the project in December, 2006, and will deliberate on how to expand the mandate of the project to include other pests, as demanded by countries. I will encourage The Gambia government to consider suggestions for expanding the mandate of the project.

The ceremony was graced by Mr David Bowen, the FAO resident Representative, Bunja Mboge, Procurement Officer, AELP, Sheikh Tijan Sosseh, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, AELP, and Divisional Locust Team leaders, among other officials of the Department of State for Agriculture.