REAP - Resource Efficient Agricultural Production Canada

Published purpose

This project seeks to enhance food security or access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food, reduce poverty, and create sustainable livelihoods through agro-ecological farming. Agro-ecological farming applies ecological principles to the design and management of sustainable agriculture systems that may be based on traditional knowledge or alternative agriculture. The project beneficiaries are 2,100 subsistence farmers in the Gambia and 900 in Senegal living in ten vulnerable agrarian communities, as well as 9,000 subsistence farmers located in surrounding communities. Some specific project objectives include: (i) training rural communities in Community Based Organisation and Participatory Planning for sustainable community development; (ii) developing the use of resource-efficient ecological farming methods and systems by women and men; and (iii) improving women and men farmers’ food security, nutrition and ability to earn a living by improving access to better plant material resources for food, fodder and soil management. This project is harmonized with national development and poverty reduction strategies, including the Gambian and Senegal Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, the Gambian Vision 2020, the Senegalese Food Security Strategy, and national objectives relating to agriculture and food security. The local partners for this project are the Agency of Village Support(AVISU) in the Gambia and the Cadre Locale de Concertation des Organisation de Producteurs (CLCOP) in Senegal.