GIRAV Project Gambia

30/10/2026

🇬🇲 From 2 to 34 hectares: how GIRAV Project Gambia helped Gikay Farms grow

In Touba Kuta, Gikay Farms started with just 2 hectares. Today, it operates across 34 hectares, turning a small-scale business into a growing, mechanized agribusiness with a lasting impact on its community.

With support from a matching grant under the GIRAV project, the farm has achieved remarkable results:

✅ Annual revenue increased from GMD 1.5 million to GMD 5–7 million
✅ Local jobs grew from 5 to more than 25, with women accounting for over 60% of employees
✅ Water access expanded from one borehole to three high-capacity commercial systems
✅ Business growth continued as profits were reinvested in a greenhouse and a 5,000-bird poultry farm.

For Mrs. Penda Sowe, a local employee, the impact goes beyond the farm: “This support has transformed lives and livelihoods in this community and beyond.”

Gikay Farms shows what targeted investment can unlock: a growing business, more jobs, and new opportunities for rural communities.

28/10/2026

From 2 hectares to a 34-hectare powerhouse! 🚀🌱

How did Gikay Farms in Touba Kuta village completely transform its agribusiness? A game-changing matching grant from the GIRAV project turned a limited operation into a fully mechanized success story.

The incredible impact by the numbers:
📈 Revenue jumped from 1.5M to 5–7 million dalasis per year
💼 Jobs grew from 5 to 25+ local employees (over 60% women!)
💧 Upgraded from 1 borehole to 3 high-capacity commercial systems
🐓 Profits re-invested into a new greenhouse and a 5,000-bird poultry farm
As local employee Mrs. Penda Sowe puts it: "This support has transformed lives and livelihoods in this community and beyond."

Shoutout to Mohammed A. Jawara, the Government, and the World Bank for making this life-changing intervention possible! 🌍✨

27/10/2026

Empowering Communities, Transforming Lives: Meet Musa Sowe, Gambia's Trailblazing Agripreneur! 🇬🇲🌾

From school dropout to a beacon of hope and community transformation, 28-year-old Musa Sowe from Sare Sillereh village (Wuli West District, URR) is proving that success is homegrown.
Instead of risking everything on the dangerous high seas to reach Europe, Musa chose resilience. Today, he is a thriving goat farmer and a vital service provider for his entire region—even crossing borders into neighboring Senegal!

Here is how strategic support and pure determination changed everything:
• The Spark: Funded by the Small Ruminant Production Project, Musa started with 70 goats, housing, and a one-hectare feedlot.
• The Turning Point: In April 2025, through the Gambia Government and World Bank-backed GIRAV project, he received a milling machine to process local staples like maize, millet, and rice.
• The Ripple Effect: Musa didn't just pocket the profits. He bought a second multipurpose milling machine, slashed milling prices across the district, and saved local women and girls from hours of hard labor.
• Building the Future: His businesses have already created employment for two local youths and are currently funding the construction of the village’s first-ever provision shop.

Musa’s journey is a powerful testament to the impact of empowering youth in agriculture. When we invest in our youth, we invest in the future of our nation!

19/10/2026

🌾 GIRAV PROJECT: YIELD MEASUREMENT FOR IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY

The Gambia Government-World Bank funded Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (GIRAV) is undertaking yield measurement activities to assess rice and maize productivity and generate reliable data on crop performance.

Through field-based yield measurements, the project seeks to establish actual crop yields, assess agricultural production outcomes, and generate evidence to inform planning, decision-making, and interventions aimed at improving farmers’ productivity and livelihoods.

📊 **Reliable data. Better decisions. Improved yields

15/10/2026

Technicians from the , , contractors and the Supervising Consultant for the construction of the GIRAV Project Gambia feeder roads have concluded a 3-day (13th-15th October 2026) monitoring visit to ongoing works in the WCR (Gunjur-Berending, Katacorr-Bulanjorr & Bondali Burambang-Bambarang), CRRS (Sinchu AlagiePate Sam), URR (Chamoi Bunda-Limbambulu Yammadu) and the NBR (Minteh Kunda-Kerr Pateh Koreh-Njawara & Kuntaya-Kerr Amadou-Kerr Omar Saine). The team also visited the NRA laboratory in Mansakonko, LRR. The visit gave stakeholders the opportunity to interact, assess progress, challenges and identify actions to accelerate project implementation. With funding from the World Bank and the Gambia Government through the GIRAV project, 26 feeder roads measuring a total of 204.7km are being constructed across the country. When completed these roads will connect rural comminities, facilitate market access for agricultural produce, build local economies and transform lives and livelihoods.

14/10/2026

12/10/2026

12/10/2026

From Grant to Greatness: Meet the Civil Servant Master Farmer Transforming Gambian Agriculture! 🇬🇲🌾
Meet Babucarr Ndow, a Senior Livestock Assistant from Kahene Bereto, Upper Baddibou District. He isn’t just a civil servant—he is a visionary master farmer proving that agriculture is a powerful engine for family prosperity and national growth!
🚀 The Turning Point: The GIRAV Project
In 2024, Babucarr beat the odds in a highly competitive selection process to become one of the farmers awarded a GoTG-World Bank-funded GIRAV project matching grant. Investing a total of $12,500 ($10,000 from GIRAV and $2,500 of his own counterpart contribution), he set out to scale his maize and horticulture ventures.
The results? Absolutely incredible. 👇
📈 Maize Production Doubled
• 2025: Cultivated 3 hectares and harvested an impressive 12 tons of maize.
• 2026: Reinvested his profits into high-quality hybrid seeds to double his farm size to 6 hectares, with an expected bumper harvest of 20 to 30 metric tons.
🥦 Year-Round Smart Farming & Innovation
Using the grant, Babucarr fenced 1 hectare of land, installed overhead tanks, and set up a drip irrigation system powered by a solar borehole.
• The Payoff: He raked in over D150,000 from vegetable sales alone in 2026.
• The Impact: His family enjoys fresh, nutritious food daily, dramatically boosting their health and well-being.
💼 Changing Lives Beyond the Field
Babucarr’s success isn't just about numbers—it’s about human impact. With the proceeds from his 2025 maize harvest, he successfully paid for his daughter’s first-year medical school tuition at the University of The Gambia (UTG). He is also boosting the local economy by creating jobs for part-time workers.
🌟 A Vision for The Gambia
While Babucarr’s household is proudly food self-sufficient, his vision doesn't stop at his doorstep. As he beautifully puts it:
"Real food self-sufficiency is when the whole nation is food self-sufficient."
Babucarr is the living definition of what happens when hard work meets the right opportunity!

09/10/2026

Exciting News!

GIRAV project: Powering a agricultural comeback in The Gambia

Back to the Roots: The community of Bajana, WCR, returns to their long-abandoned rice fields thanks to crucial machinery and seed support from the GIRAV project.

Honourable Amie Colley, National Assembly Member for Berefet Constituency who also doubles as the Vice Chair of the National Assembly Select Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development today Friday 9th October 2026 visited the Bajana rice fields to witness firsthand how the Government and World Bank support through the GIRAV project with certified seeds sourced with support and modern machinery motivated the Bajana community to return to rice farming after years away.

Speaking in an interview, Hon. Colley commended the Gambian Government and the World Bank for what he described as transformative intervention, She noted with gratitude that the GIRAV support has enabled the cultivation of 10 hectares of abandoned land.

"The GIRAV project is Powering a agricultural comeback in Foni Berefet in particular and the Gambia at large", she noted.

09/10/2026

GIRAV Project Steps Up Efforts to Improve Compliance with Environmental, Social Safeguard Requirements by Contractors

On Thursday, October 8, 2026, the GIRAV Project officially concluded an intensive 3-day capacity-building training for 35 contractors and supervising consultants at the Bakadaji Hotel in Kololi. The training focused on "Project-Site Environmental and Social Safeguards Management, Monitoring, and Reporting," equipping participants with the critical technical skills needed to monitor, document, and report on environmental, social, and occupational health and safety (OHS) performance across active construction sites.

🏆 Key Highlights:
• Safeguards Mastery: Participants gained hands-on knowledge to systematically manage workplace safety and environmental impact.
• Official Recognition: The closing ceremony featured the presentation of Certificates of Participation to all attendees.

Mr. Alieu Mamour Jagne, Coordinator of the GIRAV Project and the CPCU under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security, presided over the event. He urged participants to immediately apply their new skills to ensure all project activities adhere strictly to top-tier environmental and workplace safety standards.

The Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Project (GIRAV) is jointly funded by the Gambia Government and the World Bank, driving resilient growth across the nation. 🇬🇲✨