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1) a) conflict between forestry and farmlands, 2) conflict between farmers and wildlife (hippopotamus) 3) conflict between farmers and livestock and 4) shifting land use patterns 2) Middlemen role between growers and markets 3) Conflict in policies affecting food systems A few areas of divergence emerged during the Gambian dialogue. The most important divergences were related to conflicts between various uses of land and those who use land. 1) The stakeholders from the forestry and food production value chains could not agree on the expansion of agricultural lands through destruction of forest... Read mores. Also, 2) rice growers in the CRR complain about hippopotamuses invading and destroying their fields. They want the hippos killed but the animals are protected species in The Gambia. So, there is continuous push and pull between the agriculture and wildlife departments. Another 3) controversial area is the rapid take over of real estate developers of agricultural land for residential purposes especially in the 2 regions: namely, Kanifing Municipality and West Coast region. There was a divergence within the horticulture value chain. The growers that are far from the big urban markets sell their produces through middlemen called ‘Gyenda Jai’. These middlemen often shortchange, delay payments to the growers or even disappear with the growers’ money. A final divergence is related to policy conflicts affecting the food systems in the Gambia. The policies adopted by various ministries of agriculture and trade are often in conflict. The Ministry of Trade is responsible for Common External Tariffs and for the Investment Codes. The Ministry of Agriculture often require certain value chains protected to encourage growth and investment. Often, the two ministries do not align their schedules. Read less

1) Increase access to land, financing and other productive resources that specifically target women and youth. Actions: a) The government must make specific and deliberate policy decisions (legislative and regulatory) targeting women and youths which grant them ownership of land for cultivation or to conduct agribusiness enterprises. The land can serve as co-lateral to give them access to finance. b) The agricultural loan interest rate in The Gambia is too high. It must be lowered to a single digit and loans should be discounted over multiple years with a minimum of 3 years. A graze period of ... Read more6 months for crops and 12 months for livestock should be given before repayment on the loan capital should start. c) The government should fast-track the establishment of an agri-business bank and a risk support facility, both of which are being formulated. d) Priority needs to be given to projects and programmes that will promote women and youth participation, eg, rice, vegetable and small ruminant projects tend to benefit women and youths. e) Promote gender equity with particular attention paid to youth participation throughout the food value chain. 2) Increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the health delivery system Actions: a) Government and the private sector should increase access and improve health service delivery including Primary Health Care in the rural areas. b) Government should put in place strategies to systematically train and retain qualified personnel. c) Government should promote and enhance Private Sector investment in health service delivery, especially in the rural areas. d) Mainstream food-based nutrition and household food security into sectoral policies and plans. 3) Sustainable exploitation of the country’s natural resource base. Actions: a) Mainstream conservation agriculture in ANR policies and enact soil and water regulations. b) Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Review and enforce the fisheries regulations and practice the Maximum Sustainable Yield concept. Re-negotiate all fishing agreements in favour of sustained economic growth. c) Enforce forestry regulations to curb illegal logging and transportation of foreign timber through Gambian territory for export. Promote community forest management concepts and non-timber forest enterprises. 4) Increase food production by 100% Actions: a) Promote climate smart agriculture through the use of i) irrigation (drip and surface) to encourage year-round production and crop production intensification and ii) integrated farming systems cops, livestock and aquaculture). Less than 4% of the cultivable area in The Gambia is irrigated. Tens of thousands of irrigable lands can be made available for lowland production if salt intrusion in the second half of the River Gambia is controlled. The government should consider construction of an anti-salt bridge on the river somewhere ecologically feasible. b) Promote mechanization along the entire food value chain. About 30% of the cultivable land is not cultivated. Mechanization of pre and post-harvest activities will reduce drudgery and time, increase cultivation of larger areas, and will also reduce postharvest losses. c) Promote consumption of safe and nutritious diets, biofortified foods and mineral and vitamin supplements for all d) Promote home grown school feeding (HGSF) program and contract farming. The HGSF increases retention of the girl-child in school which curbs early child marriages and closes the education gap between boys and girls. When all the children are well fed, early child development (ECD) is guaranteed, and the child cognitive development is advanced. e) Promote access to markets for agricultural produce f) Empower agricultural, food and nutrition security research and development g) Strengthen national laboratory capacity for food testing (Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary system strengthening) h) Establish a robust early warning system to natural disasters and strengthen and the National Disaster Management Agency for rapid intervention, saving lives and restoration of lost livelihoods. Read less

1) Increase access to land, financing and other productive resources that specifically target women and youth. The women form more than 50% of the farming population and in some regions, they are the major producers of vegetables, rice and groundnuts. Despite their numbers and their key contribution to agricultural production they are seriously disadvantaged in that they lack access to key production factors and inputs, particular land, finance and technical know-how. Women in the Gambia, for social, religious and cultural reasons, do not own land and can only inherit land from their mothers. ... Read moreConsequently, women in the Gambia, lack the opportunity to have land which they can present to the bank as a co-lateral to obtain bank loans. It is therefore imperative to increase their access to land and finance if their production is to increase. 2) Increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the health delivery system There is a conspicuous inadequate access to quality health services especially in rural Gambia. This has led to high under 5, infant and neo-natal mortalities. This has led to serious ramifications on production and productivity of the nation’s food systems. In 2018, it was estimated that the country lost an equivalent of about GMD3.956 billion due to child undernutrition, which represented 5.1 percent of the GDP (COHA Report, 2020). 3) Sustainable exploitation of the country’s natural resource base. There has been remarkable degradation of the country’s resource base over the years. Deforestation, overfishing in our waters and inappropriate fishing nets, the poisoning of marine life, land degradation, frequent bush fires are some classical examples. Some of the adaptive measures undertaken to mitigate the degradation on the country’s resource base include sensitization on bush fire control measures, encourage agroforestry, regulating fishing and fishing nets, creation of appropriate policies. There is an alarming rate of wanton felling of indigenous and protected tree species. Bad agricultural practices on slopes have seriously aggravated soil and water erosion resulting in loss of topsoil and decline in soil fertility. 4) Increase food production by 100% According to the national statistics the country produces about half of the national annual food needs. There is urgent need to gradually increase food production over the next ten years leading to national food and nutrition self- sufficiency which is in-line with the attainment of SDG 2 target 3. Agricultural production can also be boosted if Gambians consume locally produced, safe and quality foods. Increase in production can also happen if the school feeding program, hospitals and the security services source their food needs from the local farming community. Production can further be increased by reducing vulnerabilities of the livelihoods of the population through building resilience of food systems through climate-resilient agricultural practices and social protection interventions. 5) A harmonized and better coordinated policy environment that directedly or indirectly affect food systems The effective coordination of relevant policies on food systems remains the major issue in the attainment of the SDGs by 2030 in relation to the National Food Systems. Existing policies should be reviewed and dovetailed to ensure and cater for equity, justice, empowerment and sustainability for all. 6) More privates sector involvement in the food systems. The private sector is a key player in ensuring food safety as it underlies the entire food system. The majority of foods are produced, handled, processed, distributed, and sold by the private sector, and thus, their responsibility to ensure that products are nutritious and safe for consumption. In view of the above, increased private sector support and involvement is integral in achieving the set goals in the SDGs in relation to food systems. 7) Government to fulfil its international fiscal obligations. In line with the call for globalization of resources for the enhance of National Food Systems, it is important for The Government to honor its commitments to national and international agreements/treaties such as the Malabo Declaration in committing 10% of public expenditure to agriculture. The Right to Food is a long-standing international human right to which many countries are committed according to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, CESCR, 1999. It is the right to feed oneself in dignity and the right to adequate food. National and Regional Food Reserves is part of building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses which may be caused by natural or manmade disasters. The Economic Community of West African States has adopted a policy requiring regional reserves by ECOWAS and national food reserves by the Member States. Read less

Describe in under 4,200 characters including spaces In The Gambia, our focus was on all the Action Tracks. We recognized the need to consult stakeholders from around the country and the stakeholders in each of the Action Tracks. We conducted dialogues in all regions, along the Action Tracks and an independent dialogue. i) The Gambia is divided into 7 regions (5 administrative regions and 2 municipalities) and we conducted a dialogue in each region. ii) All 5 Action Tracks of the FSSD were equally treated but we had them regrouped according to common linkages among some of them: Action Tracks 1... Read more&2 were merged into one Thematic Working Group (TWG); Action Tracks 3&4 were merged in a second TWG; Action Track 5 was treated alone in a third TWG. iii) The Independent Dialogue was organized by the apex body of farmer organizations called National Coordination Organization of Farmer Organizations Gambia (NACOFAG). iv) We added Private Sector participation in a fourth TWG. Read less

ACTION TRACK 5: BUILD RESILIENCE TO VULNERABILITIES, SHOCKS AND STRESS While the impacts of COVID-19 are still unfolding, major disruptions of food supply chains due to lockdowns and restrictions triggered by government responses to the pandemic, but also a major global economic slowdown, resulted in lower incomes, and higher prices for some foods, making healthy diets even more unaffordable for many vulnerable groups. Participants agreed that small farmers are key to local and regional food systems, therefore, it is important to keep supporting them in all aspects as mentioned in outcomes for... Read more previous action tracks. Investment in their modernization and digitalization brings more power to Serbia to fight the shocks caused by unexpected pandemic. On the other hand, climate change in Serbia opened a lot of vulnerabilities. Therefore it is needed to continue with adaptation and mitigation programs to provide enough water for the arable land and to keep development of protection packages for other natural disasters. Therefore, climate action, including climate risk reduction and management to prevent, mitigate, transfer and prepare for risks is a critical entry point for action. Read less

ACTION TRACK 4: ADVANCING EQUITABLE LIVELIHOODS Raising the level of knowledge of farmers was identified as of highest importance. The average level of knowledge of farmers in Serbia, especially in relation to their competitors from Western Europe, is at an unacceptably low level. Therefore, the application of adequate agro-technical measures, from crop rotation to technologies of food, milk, meat, storage and processing technologies is insufficient. Serbia has significant scientific and professional institutional and personnel potentials (faculties, institutes, private advisory services…) w... Read morehich can cover most of the modern tendencies in the development of agriculture. These resources should be mobilized more efficiently in future together as well as the promotion of the importance of farmers associations and unions. Some analyzes show that proper local adaptation of foreign technologies at all stages of agriculture production would increase its level by as much as 20% (without any other financial investments). Therefore, agricultural policy should provide quality education for farmers because it is a basic condition for increasing their competitiveness and sustainability of agricultural production in all areas. Participants also suggested that production of value added food products might be a chance to employ more people rather than exporting primary agriculture products from Serbia. This would mean further modernization of food system in Serbia, tracking World trends and adaptation of Serbian production capacities to the world demand. This also means opening of new markets for Serbian products, which should be focused more on “healthy food” as stated in the part of this report regarding AT2. Read less

ACTION TRACK 3: BOOSTING NATURE POSITIVE PRODUCTION Participants agreed that it is necessary to more in the upcoming period on protection, sustainable management and restoration of productive system. Nature positive food system also covers the growing demand for food in a sufficient way and includes sustainable and healthy nutrition. Since land is the most important natural resource and we are witnessing many degrading processes (reduction of organic matter, acidification, classical exploitation...), special attention should be paid to it. It is needed to extend the measures of protection, reg... Read moreulation and more efficient land use. One of the proposed and mostly welcomed measures was to promote regionalization of agriculture production in Serbia, which would mean harmonization of agricultural production with agro-ecological conditions that would include recommendations of certain areas of agriculture in relation to land, climatic conditions and altitude. Read less

ACTION TRACK 2: SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE AND HEALTHY CONSUMPTION PATTERNS As the consumer habits are changing and it is noticeable that people are more aware of “healthy food”, this means that production of food in Serbia has to adopt new trends and shift its focus to specialization of high quality and organic production. Participants agreed that there’s a lot of potential for improvement in this area, for instance, in Serbian markets, organic product are represented with less than 1%, while in some EU countries, their share takes in some countries more than 30%. Serbia is also a NON-GMO cou... Read morentry, and all the mentioned gives the opportunity to focus more to production of “healthy food”. It is also important to empower small scale producers to deliver healthy, safe, and affordable diets and support livelihoods and income in rural areas of Serbia. This would especially mean to support and educate marginalized groups to produce food of standardized quality and distribute it locally, but also, to promote cooperation with advanced companies which will create some types of hubs, where smaller producers can act as satellites and thus be included in large scale production. Read less

ACTION TRACK 1: ENSURE ACCESS TO SAFE AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD FOR ALL Increasing food safety was identified as one of main drive forces for this action track in Serbia, as Serbia already has A Directorate for National Reference Laboratories it is of most importance to keep supporting its further development regarding food safety analyses through education and equipment modernization. It is also very important to educate primary producers about food safety and educate them how to minimize risks in their production. Also, one of the questions regarding food safety was to find modern techniques and s... Read moreolutions for safe extend of products shelf life. Read less

Transparency, inclusiveness and ownership were of fundamental importance to guarantee successful outcomes of the first Dialogue of the Republic of Serbia. Different actors across the entire food systems were identified and selected in the preparatory phase. The expertise, past experiences and knowledge of these actors were taken into consideration in order to develop a common vision for a long-term sustainability of Serbian food systems. In total six panel discussion topics were jointly identified in accordance with the dialogue procedures and targeting the challenges that the actors of Serbia... Read moren food systems are currently facing. Each topic was presented by a selected representative of governmental, international or local organization and discussed involving all panel participants for a collective sharing of reflections on each of the topics discussed. Finally, the results and outcomes of discussions were synthesized to incorporate into main findings. The most important output is that within the frames of this Summit a food systems’ transformation action plan shall be developed to stimulate the emergence of new ideas. In addition, the experience and knowledge of the parties involved will enable to unleash hidden opportunities and develop modern food systems with joined efforts. Structural change is necessary to address the socio-economic drivers behind malnutrition, inequalities and the climate and environmental impacts of food. A major finding is the necessity of cooperation especially between the government and private sector actors for finding solutions in developing agriculture, taking into consideration environmental issues to build strong food systems. This is important for building strong agricultural production and healthy diets for the population and building sustainable food systems based on three main pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Modernization and digitalization of primary production was also identified as one of the ways for improvement. Digital solutions in the field of agriculture, which is gaining momentum in recent years, are becoming much more affordable and cheaper and are finding their wider application. In the context of food systems, digital solutions can serve to connect producers and consumers (urban and rural), but they can also ensure that small market players are involved in food systems along the value chain in agriculture. They can also help keep trade channels open in crisis situations such as COVID-19. Nutrition and Food Safety was identified as another major field for intervention, while food safety refers to routines in the preparation, handling and storage of food meant to prevent foodborne illness and injury, proper nutrition means different things in different countries, but it is common to promote a healthy diet, a diet that contains enough nutrients, regardless of age, and it is important to give more attention to these 2 topics in upcoming period. Agribusiness companies’ modernization in order to obtain value added products with standardized quality. Put additional efforts to make more complex cooperative structure, where the modernization and growth of companies will be followed with their respective linkage with venerable groups which may be included as their suppliers or half-processors. As this First National Dialogue had and intention to increase the level of interaction/exploration amongst all participants, detailed Outcomes will be included in the Feedback Form after 2 subnational and 2nd National Dialogue. Read less

The first two-stage National Dialogue focused on identifying challenges to: (a) ensure the availability of safe nutritious food; (b) shift to sustainable consumption patterns (c) boost nature-positive production at scale; (d) advance equitable livelihoods; (e) strengthen capacities to resist vulnerabilities and the often changing economic environment; thus, building more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable food systems in Serbia. The discussions were broken into six main challenge areas aligned with the UN Food Systems Summit five “action tracks” as outlined below: 1. U... Read moreNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2. TRANSFORMATION OF FOOD SYSTEMS 3. ADAPTATION OF FOOD SYSTEMS TO CLIMATE CHANGE 4. STATE PARTICIPATION IN THE VALUE CHAIN OF FOOD SYSTEMS 5. MODERNIZATION OF FOOD SYSTEMS 6. CONSUMER HABITS IN THE FOOD SECTOR Read less