The National Farmers Platform yesterday concluded a two days workshop at the Gambia Christian Council hall along MDI road on the theme “Empowerment through capacity development”.

In his welcoming remarks, at the opening of the ceremony, the president of The National Farmers Platform, Mr Musa Jawneh explained that the training will help farmers to effectively and adequately carry out their farming activities. He added that the objective of the training is to empower Gambian farmers on their farming activities, noting that government alone cannot do it all for the people.

Mr Cherno Mballow, the coordinator of agric business at the Ministry of agriculture said the government is committed to strengthening the agricultural organisation in the country. According to him, the Ministry of agriculture recently concluded a two day development of the agricultural policy of the Gambia geared towards addressing problems faced by farmers in the agricultural sector. He noted that the training is to empower the capacity development for farmers.

Mr Buba Khan, who deputised for the country Director of Action Aid The Gambia commended the National Farmers Platform for their efforts in empowering farmers. He asserted that since its inception in 1997, the National Farmers Platform has been faced with numerous challenges both organisational as well as operational. These, he added include the lack of institutional support for effective and better planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and activities of the organisation.