The Gambia College in Brikama concluded, on Thursday, a 5-year capacity building project program on sustainable food security project, jointly implemented with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College of Toronto, Canada. The project title was The 'Sustainable Food Security'.

The closing of the project enabled the college to highlight the successes registered during the project implementation period. It also afforded the offials the opportunity to thank the stakeholders for their invaluable contributions on the successes registered in the joint project.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr Alieu Badara Senghore, principal of Brikama College, expressed his utmost gratitude and congratulated the School of Agriculture for its ability to execute and registering success on the project. He noted that food scarcity is now a global issue which requires individual effort to sustainable food security.

Ebrima Cham, Head, School of Agriculture, Gambia College, gave a brief background of the project. He said that the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) had received approval for the proposal to undertake a capacity building project with the School of Agriculture, Gambia College, from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for the period of March 2003 to March 2008.

He added that the goal of the 5-year project was to address food insecurity issues in The Gambia through the design and implementation of curicular by the School of Agriculture, which is responsible for the needs of the farmers and stakeholders.

Highlighting their achievements on the project, Mr Cham said that the capacity of the school staff has been built to enable them to develop appropriate curricula and short courses that conform with the current agricultural trends and demands in the country. "This new curricula seek to provide skilled agricultural extension service providers that are capable of addressing the food security needs of the farming community" he said.

Mr Cham further stated that students as also underwent study tours on agriculture and food security related issues in the country.  Mrs Ena Corrah, first in-country coordinator, Musa Jawneh, president of the Gambia Farmers Association and representative from AFET and other stakeholders, attended the closing ceremony.