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AFRICA

ROC transfers agriculturaltechnology to The Gambia

International Cooperation & Development 13

Since the late 1950s the ROC has been sending

agricultural and fishery technical missions to

different parts of the world to help friendly nations

develop their agricultural sectors and improve their

economies. Developing countries in Africa were

among the first to benefit from these initiatives. In

The Gambia, ROC specialists helped local farmers to

grow rice, dryland cereals, vegetables and melons from

June 1966 to December 1974. When, after a hiatus,

the technical mission resumed its activities in 1995, it

was decided to concentrate on helping the Gambians

to enhance their ability to produce vegetables and rice.

Agricultural scientist Dr. Sung-ching Hsieh, former

deputy secretary general of the ICDF, has been deeply

involved in the transfer of technology to The Gambia

and he has written extensively on the subject. One of

his monographs—Case Studies on Agricultural

Technology Transfer in the Developing Countries—

is the source for the data on vegetable production.

With respect to tidal irrigation, the most important

source of information consists of detailed reports by

Y.S. Chen, team leader of the ROC’s agricultural

technical mission in Sapu, The Gambia.

Description of The Gambia

This West African country, the smallest country

on the African continent, consists of a narrow strip on

either side of the Gambia River, extending 320 km

upstream from its mouth. Entirely surrounded by

Senegal, the country’s total area is 11,300 sq km,

consisting of 10,000 sq km of land and 1,300 sq km of

water. Three quarters of the total population of about

1.25 million (1997 est.) is rural, and population growth

is high, at about 4 percent per year.

14 International Cooperation & Development

The country lies in the Sahelian zone, with four

distinct agro-ecological zones according to vegetation

and rainfall pattern. The dry season lasts from

November to May, with an average daily temperature

of 30oC in the dry season; in the wet season, the average

temperature is 27oC. The annual rainfall has been

decreasing steadily over the past century and that is

leading to increased salinity in the lowlands and greater

acidity in the uplands. The flat topography results in a

pronounced marine influence: in the dry season the

salt tongue moves as far as 250 km upstream. The

seasonality and salinity have important repercussions

on land use.

The cultivable land area is estimated at about

430,000 hectares, or about 38 percent of the total area,

and about 45 percent of that area is cultivated. Major

crops, mostly rainfed, are groundnuts, millet, sorghum,

maize and rice. Only about 1,500 hectares of cropland

are under pump irrigation, although rice is grown on

10,000 to 15,000 ha of mangrove and freshwater

swamps. In the mangrove area, where simple protec-

tion dikes have been constructed, rice can be grown

from August to January. Groundnuts and groundnut

products constitute 70 percent of The Gambia’s

exports.

Agricultural Policy

The Department of State for Agriculture provides

policy guidance and technical support for agriculture

through a Central Management Unit and four main

departments: Planning, Livestock Service, Coopera-

tion, and Agricultural Services. The semiautonomous

National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) is

responsible for all agricultural research.

A prime objective of The Gambia’s agricultural

policy is to enhance the productivity of vegetable and

other agricultural products, for both domestic

consumption and export purposes. The increasing

number of tourists (some 100,000 per year) is

exacerbating the demand for vegetables and fruits, and

there is concern about the high amount of foreign

exchange being spent to import agricultural products,

which make up the largest part of the country’s imports.

Past Lessons Learned

Over the years, international assistance organiza-

tions—including the ROC—have attempted to help

the Gambian government resolve the country’s

agricultural production challenges. Important lessons

have been learned from those efforts.

In the 1970s, with the assistance of the World Bank,

the Department of Agriculture began to revise the

colonially inherited system of agricultural research and

extension. The objective of the Rural Development

Project which ensued was to disseminate improved

varieties of crops and modern cultivation practices to

farmers through demonstration plots at mixed farming

centers and farmers’ fields. Agricultural communi-

cation units, using film, video shows and other tools,

did their best to propagate improved agricultural

production methods throughout the country. While the

project foundered in some areas, it did lead to wide

acceptance of the need to improve agricultural

extension through better management.

In the mid-1980s, the Gambian government, again

with the support of the World Bank, entered into the

Agricultural Services Project. That incorporated a

training and visit system of extension, which was

designed to teach farmers quickly about improved

technologies that could be applied to help them increase

production and therefore their income.

Success depended on regular visits to farmers’

fields and detailed diagnoses of farmers’ problems,

along with fortnightly meetings with extension and

research staff. Efforts were made to provide informa-

tion on a timely basis and extension linkages were

strengthened, but it proved to be impossible for

extension agents to visit all of the several hundred farm

families assigned to them. Lack of timely feedback

on difficulties faced by the farmers—which might have

helped researchers diagnose problems and formulate

appropriate recommendations—posed another barrier

to progress.

Constraints to effective implementation of the

program were many, including:

• the inability to continue financing the program once

World Bank, government and external funding

sources ended;

• the imbalanced gender structures of the farming

community, in which the women were responsible

for doing the actual cultivation work but had limited

ownership of land and therefore were unable to take

advantage of the new technologies;

• the multiplicity of indigenous languages in the

country, which made it difficult for extension agents

to communicate effectively with farmers and for

those farmers, in turn, to communicate with other

members in their areas;

• the low literacy level, which limited the ability of

farmers to make use of practical printed materials;

and

• poor coordination between researchers, extension

workers and farmers.

In planning their strategies for the revitalization of

the designated areas, the

ROC technical mission

took all of these factors

into account.

Involvement of the

ROC Technical Mission

In 1995 the government of The Gambia and the

ROC agricultural technical mission in that country

signed an agreement to rehabilitate the abandoned

Banjulinding Vegetable Garden as a productive farm

and to turn Banjulinding, Sukuta and Lamin into

integrated horticultural production zones. The hope

was that in those areas vegetables could be produced

for both domestic and export purposes. The objectives

envisaged converting the existing cooperative gardens

into effective production and marketing teams,

establishing a modern grading and packing system,

and developing a post-harvesting treatment system to

improve and maintain the quality of vegetables.

Three separate vegetable production and marketing

team projects were undertaken: at the Banjulinding

Horticultural Farm, the Sukuta Women Communal

Horticultural Garden and the Vegetable Production and

Marketing Specialized Zone at Lamin. A similar

process was followed at each of the farms, so only the

Banjulinding experience is described in detail.

Mr. T.C. Huang of theROC technical missionconducts a trainingsession for the women atBunjulinding HorticulturalFarm.


Establishing Production and Marketing Teams

at Banjulinding Horticultural Farm

Banjulinding, known as “little Banjul,” is located

midway between the capital city of Banjul and the

international airport. A team of women had produced

peanuts and vegetables on an 8-hectare experimental

farm in the past, but the farm had been abandoned

because of insufficient funds to repair the damaged

irrigation system. When Dr. Hsieh visited the area, he

foresaw the possibility of rehabilitating the land into a

productive vegetable farm. He put together a plan

which the Minister of Agriculture and Natural

Resources accepted, and work began immediately.

The ROC technical mission stationed in The

Gambia assigned Mr. Te-chung Huang, a vegetable

expert, to the task. He was supported by an extension

worker supplied by the government. With funds

donated by the ROC, the Gambian government and

other sources, including Catholic Relief Services and

Canada Project, the underground water pumping and

irrigation facilities and power supply systems were

repaired. Once the system was functional, it could

pump water from 41.75 meters underground for storage

in an aboveground water tank. Plastic pipes were

buried underground in strategic places, in order to

facilitate the flow of water from the tank to several

small water reservoirs around the farm.

Now the work of organizing the production and

marketing teams began. Mr. Huang organized 70

women into teams of 10 persons, and he began training

them in the technologies of vegetable production. He

taught them about suitable varieties of vegetables to

be grown, fertilization methods, preparation of organic

manure, non-chemical integrated pest management,

operation of farm machinery, post-harvesting treat-

ment, marketing of produce, etc.

Although any woman over the age of 20 living in

Banjulinding could apply for membership in the

production and marketing team, the regulations were

quite strict. A member who failed to attend meetings

was fined and she could be expelled if she did not turn

up for work on time or perform the tasks that had been

assigned to her. At the end of each day, 75 percent of

the income from farm sales was divided equally among

the members of the team, and the balance was

deposited at the Standard Chartered Bank Serrekunda,

to be saved as an accumulative revolving fund.

In the initial year (1996), cultivating only 1.5 ha of

the land available, the teams produced 9.6 tonnes of

vegetables, with a value of US$2,358. In 1997,

production increased to 120.8 tonnes, with a value of

US$38,559. In 1998, US$38,750 was earned from

production of 88.1 tonnes of vegetables. By March

1999 there was US$16,234 in the revolving fund.

With initial capital of $5,000 borrowed from the

revolving fund, the women of the Banjulinding farm

established a Consumers’ Cooperative Shop. The team

members and field workers appreciated the

convenience and low prices charged for food and

household utilities at the shop, and it prospered. The

net profits between January 1998 and March 1999

amounted to US$2,644. These were added to the

revolving fund.


Sukuta Women

Communal Horticultural Garden

In Sukuta, a community situated close to the Greater

Banjul area, gardening has been the main occupation

of women since colonial days. The work is done both

individually and communally, using very simple,

labor-intensive methods. In 1981, at the invitation of

the World Food Program, 200 women formed the first

women vegetable producers’ group in Sukuta, working

15 hectares of land allocated by the village head. In

1987, with assistance from the Islamic Development

Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the

United Nations Development Program, the women

started a community garden project. They planted

vegetables on 5 hectares of land and fruit (mainly

mango) trees on 10 hectares.

Despite hard work, the project was not successful.

Apart from mismanagement and accounting

irregularities, the main problem was inadequate water

supply because of deficient pumps and an inefficient

generator. Also, the number of women (200) assigned

to the plots was too large to ensure an acceptable

income for each of them. The challenge for the ROC

technical mission and the other sponsors was to

reorganize the Sukuta

horticultural garden into

a modern, profitable one.

Once aga in , Mr .

Huang was dispatched to

lead the project. First, the

land was cleared com-

pletely and the soil tilled.

Pipes were laid under-

ground; two wind pumps and one wet jet pump (which

are easy to maintain and for which parts are available

locally) were donated by Canada and installed; large-

diameter wells were constructed; nurseries were built

and seedlings started in them; a store, shaded rest area

and office were constructed; and, with funds provided

by the Catholic Relief Services, a fence was built

around the perimeter of the 15-hectare site.

As in Banjulinding, the women, working in groups

of 10, were trained in horticultural production and

management by the technical staff and agricultural

extension workers. They were also taught about

practical marketing strategies and instructed on how

to avoid putting gluts of produce on the market. To

enable the women to participate actively in the

organization and management of the garden activities,

an adult literacy program, with a special emphasis on

numeracy, was initiated.

The women have decided that 25 percent of their

income will be saved in a revolving fund to be used

for capital building and rehabilitation work. The

revolving fund was the source of seed capital for the

setting up of a cooperative shop, which earned a net

profit of US$2,087 in 1998.

.

The women of the SukutaHorticultural Gardenshare some joyful momentsas they celebrate abountiful harvest ofwatermelons.


Vegetable Production and Marketing

Specialized Zone at Lamin

Following the visit of an agricultural survey mission

to Lamin led by Dr. Hsieh, it was agreed that the ROC

could play a useful role in turning the primitive facility,

located close to the capital city of Banjul, into a modern

vegetable production zone. A 15-hectare plot of land

was allocated for the women in the area, and vegetables

such as onion, eggplant, okra, hot pepper, sweet pepper

and tomato are now being cultivated on 6 hectares.

Mango trees have been planted on 7 hectares, and the

remaining 2 hectares are still awaiting reclamation.

The technical mission helped to organize 175

households into 18 production and marketing teams.

Before that, a number of improvements had to be made

to the site, where a solar energy-generated power

supply system for underground water intake (funded

by the Royal Norwegian Society for Rural Develop-

ment) already existed but had fallen into disuse because

of lack of money to maintain the system. An additional

solar-generated pumping system and a pipeline

irrigation system were installed and a revolving fund

was established along the same lines as that formed in

Banjulinding.

Between 1996 and 1998 the group produced 230.8

tonnes of vegetables, with a value of US$78,159.

Process of Continual Evaluation

of New Technologies

Obviously, the ROC technical mission has been

very successful in transferring agricultural technology

to The Gambia. Through a combination of efforts,

including new techniques (from the country’s NARI,

the ROC and other countries), well-trained village

extension workers and hard-working farming house-

holds, agricultural productivity has increased tremen-

dously in the three major areas described above.

A demonstration of onion culture at the Lamin Women’s Horticultural Garden in The Gambia.


The extension work begun by the World Bank and

continued by the technical mission has shown that

Gambian farming households can accept new tech-

nologies and are prepared to follow the regulations

that are required for cooperative farming. However,

after more than half a century of experiments, the

Gambians are still evaluating the best combination of

approaches to achieve the desired goals of vegetable

self-sufficiency and the creation of a profitable export

market for agricultural produce.

The horticultural farms at Banjulinding, Sukuta and

Lamin which were set up with the assistance of the

ROC and other foreign aid institutions are operating

successfully. The farms serve not only as production

units but also as places of partnership, where the spirit

of cooperation is fostered and communication through-

out the community is enhanced. Surely these experi-

ences can be applied to other farms, not only in The

Gambia and other developing African countries, but

also in other parts of the world.

Tidal irrigation as a meansto greater rice productivity

The ROC technical mission in The Gambia has

been promoting paddy rice production and the

expansion of paddy fields since 1995. Rice is a staple

food in that country but, because most farmers are short

of funds to buy the required fertilizer and agricultural

machinery and the areas of cultivation are small,

production is low—about 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

Discouraged by the government policy of allowing the

free import of rice, which not only keeps prices low

but makes it uneconomic to try to produce rice for

export under prevailing conditions, most farmers grow

only sufficient rice to meet their own needs.

The result is that the 20,000 tonnes of rice produced

annually in the country account for less than one

quarter of domestic demand. Consequently, consid-

erable sums of foreign exchange are being expended

to purchase rice from abroad. Because of the drain on

foreign exchange, the government has made increasing

rice output a major policy objective, and over the years

it has used foreign aid money to develop new rice

paddies. Unfortunately, most of those paddies have

been abandoned due to poor management and lack of

resources.


In an effort to help the Gam-

bians increase unit output and

reduce production costs, the ROC

technical mission has introduced

improved rice varieties and simple

applicable technology to the rice-

growing farms in selected areas.

Experts from the ROC and else-

where have concluded, however,

that in order to reach the hoped-for

level of 80,000–90,000 tonnes of

rice, which would be close to self-

sufficiency in that staple food, the

development and use of tidal

irrigation will be required.

Promoting the Benefits

of Tidal Irrigation

Mr. Y.S. Chen and his colleagues at the technical

mission have been studying the issue of tidal irrigation

for several years. In 1996 they conducted a survey on

pump and tidal irrigation systems in the Central River

Division (CRD) of The Gambia. They noted that,

although the Gambia River was a good source of water,

it was very costly to develop pumping irrigation when

the costs of diesel, lubricants and additional labor were

taken into account. If the farmers were not working

together, or there was a shortage of funds, pumps were

unable to operate continuously and the schemes could

be abandoned at any stage.

In contrast to pump irrigation systems, tidal

irrigation costs relatively little and, during high water

levels, it brings in fertile top soil or organic matter

which is washed down to the river from upstream. If

farmers use high-yielding varieties and plant healthy

seedlings at the right time with the appropriate amount

of fertilizer, weeding and water management, they can

easily increase the yield to 5 tonnes/hectare.

The technical mission carried out a second survey

in 1997 and identified a site for further land develop-

ment. The ROC government provided a sum of about

US$860,000 for purchase of the required heavy

equipment, tractors and fuel. The funds enabled the

mission to develop a total of around 100 hectares in

Sapu and Sukuta (both in the CRD), and in 1999 rice

was planted in those fields.

Another important task undertaken by the mission

was to convert the pump irrigation that existed on 400

hectares in Jahally and Pacharr to tidal irrigation. By

eliminating diesel, lubricant and other costs, expenses

were lowered by approximately US$25,000 per year.

Results of cultivation under tidal irrigation systems in

Jahally/Pacharr, as well as Wassu/Kuntaur, showed

that yields could be increased from 1 tonne/ha to 5

tonnes/ha. In fact, during the 1999 dry season, the

Jahally/Pacharr extension farm was able to increase

the yield to as much as 6 tonnes/ha.


New Practices Required

In addition to the low cost, an important charac-

teristic of tidal irrigation is that it permits year-round

cultivation with simple technologies. That is advan-

tageous. However, one ought not to lose sight of the

fact that the use of tidal irrigation may require the

adoption of new ways of farming. Among these:

• Tidal irrigation requires continual levelling of land

according to the season and may call for such new

practices as deep water rice cultivation, adjustment

of planting seasons and direct seeding. If timely

harvests are to be achieved, it may be necessary to

make up for later planting by raising seedlings

earlier in nurseries somewhere, so that transplanting

can take place immediately once the land

preparation has been completed.

• The distribution of labor may constitute a weak

point for cultivation under the tidal scheme. Most

of the cultivation of rice is done by women, who

may have limited strength to work in muddy, deep

water conditions while acquitting other onerous or

time-consuming household duties.

• Another requirement is that farmers collaborate in

maintaining the structures and cleaning the irri-

gation and draining channels in their communities.

Appointed individuals must be “on call” in case

high tides occur at night. If water management

strategies are to be effective, water users need to

be motivated to work closely and conscientiously

as a group—a factor that makes the establishment

of effective farmers’ organizations an urgent

requirement.

• Special attention to machinery and equipment is

necessary. Under tidal schemes, farm machinery

may be required for land preparation and har-

vesting. When the land is too low, however, tractors

and other heavy equipment cannot operate properly

and are prone to breaking down. The solution is to

resort to animal traction or to use light powertillers

for land preparation.

Weeding the rice field andpreparing it for theapplication of organicfertilizer.


It is estimated that about 1,800 hectares of double

cropping tidal land are currently being used for rice

cultivation. Yet, after intensive study of the

possibilities, the ROC experts believe that more than

5,000 hectares of tidal land could be adapted for double

rice cropping in The Gambia. With the use of superior

varieties of rice, training and government support, the

potential for development is highly encouraging.

Mr. Y.S. Chen and his team estimate that, with a

yield of as little as 4 tonnes/ha, the production from

the double crop fields could reach 40,000 tonnes. If

this were supplemented by crops grown on even one

third of the 60,000 ha of seasonal fresh water land that

exists, on which a single crop could be grown during

the rainy season (20,000 ha X 4), the yield would reach

80,000 tonnes. Added to the 40,000 tonnes produced

on the tidally irrigated double cropping land, the annual

yield would amount to 120,000 tonnes—considerably

more than the estimated annual requirement of 80,000–

90,000 tonnes.

Farmers in Pacharr, seen here with Mr. Y.S. Chen, using racks developed by the technical mission thatare more effective and easier to use.

Thus the objective of self-sufficiency in rice would

be achieved, with a surplus available for export that

could earn much-needed foreign exchange.

This review of the transfer of agricultural tech-

nology from the ROC to The Gambia, is based on

two monographs: “Case Studies on Agricultural

Technology Transfer in the Developing Countries”

by Dr. Sung-ching Hsieh, former deputy secretary

general of the ICDF, and “Tidal Irrigation in

Relation to Rice Production in The Gambia” by

Mr. Y.S. Chen, the leader of the ROC’s technical

mission in Sapu, The Gambia.

A special report in the ICDF’s annual report

for 1999 provides more details on the issue of tidal

irrigation in this West African nation.


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