Gambia: Disaster Risk Management in Agriculture - a Recipe to Addressing Food Insecurity

Agriculture is the mainstay of The Gambia's economy, accounting for about 26 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a 2010 report. The sector also provides employment for about 75 percent of the country's population and meets about 50 percent of the national food requirements. Its share of the country's total exports is 70 percent, thus constituting a substantial part of the nation's foreign exchange earnings. Given this significance of the sector, disaster risk management remains a critical factor for its productivity and advancement. Disaster as it has been known is both man-made and natural calamity that wrecks havoc on lives and livelihoods each time it strikes.

However, if there is any sector that continues to be affected by disaster,it is agriculture. Over the years we have seen farmlands and rice fields completely submerged as a result of torrential rains. Most of the time, little or nothing is realised as proceeds from these submerged farmlands, thus threatening food security among local farmers. This columnist caught up with a consultant at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Essa Khan, former executive director of the National Disaster Management Agency, an expert in disaster issues. In the words of Essa Khan, the FAO has been instrumental in building farmers' capacity in disaster risk reduction, especially after the 2012/2012 food and nutrition crises in which 19 districts were hard-hit. Khan observed that the country's food security and livelihood situation have been negatively affected by cycles of drought and floods over the years. This negative trend, he said, has been further aggravated by various environmental drivers of risks such as land degradation, soil erosion, soil salinity, water scarcity, inadequate storage capacity among other drivers.

"These risk factors, combined with challenges posed by climate change and variability, coupled with the inability of farmers in particular to mitigate risks have resulted in low agricultural productivity which have subsequently eroded the resilience of the people, undermining their capacity to respond to crisis," he explained.

Given these reasons, Khan disclosed that the FAO proposed intervention is based on hazard mitigating and drought resistant agricultural production through addressing emergency and investing in resilience. This approach in his view will ensure timely and adequate restoration of production and putting a linkage between short-term responses and actions and medium to long-term development actions on the other hand. "The proposed intervention will also pursue disaster risk reduction and management both in concept and practice, that will provide the basis for understanding the institutional setting needed to guide the transfer from reactive to more proactive DRM and promote long term risk reduction strategies and measures in the agriculture and allied sectors," he explained.

This strategic and results-based approach, Khan posited, is in agreement with the Sahel Regional Strategy and the Country Specific Strategy and Action Plan (CAP) for The Gambia. "From April to October 2012, the Government of The Gambia and key UN agencies were involved in a humanitarian response to the crop failure of 2011/2012. This was further compounded by floods from July to September 2012 and the recent declaration of an animal health emergency due to the outbreak of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP). Approximately 604,947 people are living in the areas affected by the 2011 crop failure, of which 428,000 live in the most affected areas, and the rest in the borderline-affected areas. Of this, 206,000 needed assistance to cope with the immediate effects of crop failure. During the floods and windstorms, 35,000 people were affected, out of whom 28,000 were already affected by the 2011/2012 crop failure," he revealed.

According to FAO (2012), the recent outbreak of the CBPP disease may cause the death of 200,000 heads of cattle, Khan further revealed. Given the high mortality rates in excess of (50%), and rapid infection rate, he noted, CBPP could lead to devastating impacts on herder livelihoods and food security. Given the likely scenario of a reduced 2012 harvest due to the difficulty in obtaining seeds, limited access to fertilizer during the initial stages of the crisis, compounded by the ongoing animal health emergency, according to this disaster expert, the current levels of food insecurity and acute malnutrition may further worsen. This, according to Essa Khan thus calls for measures to curb the adverse effects of the recent crisis on the most vulnerable population through response and recovery oriented interventions that would also enable resilience building.

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