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Rural poverty approaches, policies & strategies in the Gambia

Since the mid-1980s, the Gambia has been implementing economic policies favouring macroeconomic stability, market liberalization and private sector development. In 1998 the government adopted a long-term strategy, the Gambia Incorporated Vision 2020, a blueprint for accelerated and sustainable development, which has the objective of transforming the nation into a middle-income country. Presently, the Gambia is classified as one of the world's heavily indebted low-income countries. With a human development index of 0.463 in 2001, it ranks as 151 out of a total of 161 countries. 

The Gambia's medium-term strategy is outlined in the Second Strategy for Poverty Alleviation (SPA-II), prepared between 2000 and 2002, which is the country's poverty reduction strategy paper. The strategy highlights a dual approach: to undertake actions in the three key sectors of agriculture, health and education, and to foster macroeconomic growth to support those actions. Its aim is to empower communities to respond to their own development needs. The government's strategic approach is consistent with IFAD's poverty reduction strategy in the region. 

Agricultural diversification to decrease dependence on groundnuts is a cornerstone of the government's strategy to reduce rural poverty and improve food security. There are numerous options for farmers, from cultivating lowland rice, cashews, vegetables and fruits, to raising small ruminants and poultry and to producing other niche items such as rabbits, honey and dairy products. In particular, improved cultivation of tidal rice can generate substantially higher income for farmers and provide high returns for family labour. However, until the Lowlands Agricultural Development Project initiated a 20-year programme for sustainable, community-driven reclamation of lowland areas, farmers, and particularly women, in those areas lacked access to land for rice fields.

National Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2007-2011

Source: IFAD