Gambia agricultural research and diversification project

The project will: establish an Agricultural Research Management System (ARMS); support component and farming systems research, and technology promotion campaigns; and provide related training. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) will be the lead implementing agency. Priority during the project"s initial years will be given to establishing the ARMS, and as its main administrative body, a National Agricultural Research Board (NARB). The NARB, representing Gambian agencies and producer organizations, will define research priorities and review (via a Technical Secretariat) research proposals. The project will also: support on-station component research (on cereals, oilseed, and grain legumes; horticultural crops; agroforestry; irrigation systems; animal traction; soil/crop and water balances; crop protection; and livestock); expand farming systems research and extension (FSR/E) - already underway in eastern Gambia - to the western portion of the country; and promote linkages between component research and FSR/E (e.g., on-farm follow-ups to promising on-station research, and inclusion of component researchers on FSR/E teams). A series of surveys and special studies will be conducted during 1985-86 to guide FSR/E research. To ensure strong research-extension linkages, farmers and extensionists will participate in all FSR/E activities, and two long-term Research Extension Liaison Officers (RELO"s) will plan and oversee technology promotion campaigns, train field workers, and provide feedback to the research system. Finally, the project will fund about 100 short-term training programs: FSR/E courses; seminars in research management; and third-country and U.S. training (the latter as part of a reciprocal program in which U.S. faculty will make series of short-term advisory visits to the project). Long-term training (5 B.S. and 9 M.S. degrees), mostly in research disciplines, will also be provided and some infrastructural improvements will be funded, especially to complement a closely related World Bank project.