GIRAV Project Establishes, Trains Innovation Platforms for Improved Agricultural Productivity and Profitability

 IPs are a development tool used increasingly to mobilize and support key stakeholders in complex systems for agricultural development in developing countries.

 The training is organised by the GIRAV under the Central Projects Coordinating Unit (CPCU) of the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with the Central and West Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), which is a regional implementing partner for the project. 

 GIRAV is a five-year USD40 million grant from the World Bank seeking to promote the development of inclusive, resilient, and competitive agricultural value chains, focusing on smallholder farmers and agribusinesses across the country.

 The workshop is being facilitated by two international consultants deployed by CORAF, Prof. Michael Tunde Ajayi from Nigeria and Dr. Jonas Osei-Adu from Ghana. The training modules are based on the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) model for establishment of innovation platforms focusing mainly on the priority value chains of the GIRAV project namely Rice, Maize, Cashew, Vegetables including Mango and Poultry.

 Addressing the opening ceremony, Mr. Abdoulie Touray, Coordinator, GIRAV Project and the CPCU underscored the significance of the initiative, as is one of the GIRAV project’s contributions towards closing the gap on technology adoption and use by the various actors along key agriculture value chains to facilitate collaborative efforts across the boundaries of farm, business, government, science, and civil society, for improved agricultural production and productivity, increased incomes and shared prosperity. Mr. Touray emphasised the need for concerted efforts to make the innovation platform an extension approach for productivity and sustainability. “We must endeavour to ensure that we integrate the IPs approach into the Agriculture Extension System”, he concluded.

 Mrs. Ramatoulie Sanyang, Director of Operations for the GIRAV Project lamented the failure of all the 22 IPs established by the WAAPP project in The Gambia. She expressed optimism that moving forward, it will not be business as usual. She reminded participants that the goal of the GIRAV project is to help farmers move from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

 Professor Michael Tunde Ajayi, Consultant and Lead Trainer underlined the need for functional innovation platforms in the Gambia. “IPs are the order of the day. It offers many opportunities for the diverse actors in the agricultural value chain. It is therefore very important for the stakeholders to make it work”, he stressed.

 At the end of the training on Friday 13 October, participants will proceed to the establishment of Innovation Platforms in their respective communities and clusters where they will serve as facilitators.

This training will be followed with a two-day (17^th-18^th October 2023) training for 35 participants on Farming as Business and another two-day (19^th-20^th October 2023) training on Scaling of Technologies for 26 participants drawn from both the public and private sectors engaged in the agricultural value chains.