Gambia
Support to fill a gap in food production caused by severe drought through the food aid project (KR)

The Republic of The Gambia is located on the Atlantic coast of Africa and elongated alongside the Gambian river eastward. With its land size of 11,300 km², the country is populated by 1.8 million people.

While approximately 60% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, annual food production in the country, where most of the farmers practice rain-fed production, tends to be limited by rainfall, causing fluctuation. Especially in 2011, having experienced a severe drought, the total food production in the country sharply dropped down to 1/5 of that of usual years. In addition, since the self-sufficiency rate is less than 50 %, the country highly depends on food importation from the neighboring countries. As a result, the price of the food regularly rises up to the point where low income household is not affordable.

On March 10, 2011, the Government of Japan decided to execute the food aid (KR) grant. Under this grant, JICS contracted an Agent Agreement with the Government of the Republic of The Gambia. JICS procured 12,609 MT of rice as a procurement agent. JICS selected the company in charge of purchase and delivery of rice through the tender, monitored the delivery schedule, managed the project funds, etc.

On May 31, 2012, JICS attended the committee meeting as a secretariat. In this meeting, the Government of the Republic of The Gambia expressed its deep gratitude to JICS, for the timely procurement of the rice soon after the sever drought. In this regard, it can be said that JICS's procurement has highly contributed to a stable food supply in the Republic of The Gambia.