Gambia

The latest figures show acute malnutrition at 10.3 percent, while 23 percent of children are stunted, or small for their age. Gender inequality persists, and the country is ranked 148th of 159 countries in the 2016 Gender Inequality Index. An estimated 20,000 people, including pregnant women and girls, were living with HIV in 2016, of whom only 30 percent were receiving anti-retroviral therapy.

The Gambia produces only 50 percent of the food it needs, and it depends on food imports. The agricultural sector largely consists of smallholder subsistence farmers, who rely on often erratic rainfall. Food production is vulnerable to climate-related crises such as droughts and floods, which affect the availability and price of food. Those who are mainly dependent on farming are the most food insecure, yet agriculture employs 46 percent of the population – up to 80 percent in rural areas.

Agricultural growth has only been half of the national target, as the sector is stuck in a vicious cycle of low investment and low output, further exacerbated by factors including persistent gender inequalities in access to water, post-harvest losses and inadequate storage. The most vulnerable people are constantly at risk of being unable to purchase sufficient food. Crop production fell by 26 percent because of long dry spells in 2017, and fluctuating market prices had detrimental effects for vulnerable households, who spend half their income on food.

WFP has been in The Gambia since 1970, supporting school feeding and livelihood programmes. WFP led humanitarian efforts during the Sahel crisis of 2010 to 2011, and since then has been helping to strengthen the country’s own capacity for building sustainable social protection programmes, in particular for school feeding.