Why is gambia poor

If you visit major fishing centres like Gunjur or Tanji right now, most of the fishermen are unhappy. Rising ocean temperatures are causing fish to move to cooler waters, making the seafood business less profitable and the cost of fish exorbitant. Climate change is ultimately a fight for livelihoods. All of these different factors are our nightmares. Death has become the solution to poverty. Young people prefer to die than to stay behind and attempt to make a living.

And we cannot end poverty without facing climate change itself. We often try telling young people that local agriculture is the solution to poverty.

All these issues are linked, which means you have to work on the whole thing. First, we are adamant about education. Our main focus is reforestation, because it brings together awareness and practical action.

Most of our water comes from rain patterns in the region of Casamance [in southern Senegal], which has the richest forests in West Africa—but it is losing them, largely due to Gambian logging. We strongly advocate for agroforestry as a long-term solution to the climate crisis. By planting perennial crops such as cashew trees, we can address erosion and deforestation, and also give people sustainable livelihoods.

We can abandon the monoculture of cash crops such as groundnuts and sesame, which are prone to sensitive harvests, and replace them with different varieties that are more resistant to drought and other climate impacts. Doing the work we do is very challenging because you have to uproot myths, ideas that have been sold to the masses for generations. Every average young person in The Gambia wants to get to the West.

You have to ask them: what do you want to achieve? What if we ventured into agriculture? What if we set up our own projects? Home Where we work Gambia. Download country brief. Show more. In focus. Gambia news releases Go to page.

Partners and donors Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in the Gambia is made possible by the support and collaboration of our partners and donors, including:. Find out more about the state of food security in Gambia Visit the food security analysis page. Stretching km along the Gambia River, the country 10, square kilometers is surrounded by Senegal, except for a km Atlantic Ocean front. The country has a population of 2.

With people per square kilometer, it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. The December presidential election resulted in a political transition after the incumbent, President Yahya A.

Jammeh who had led the country for 22 years, was defeated by Adama Barrow, the presidential candidate of a political coalition. A new draft Constitution, which introduces a two-term limit for the presidency, was delivered in November to National Assembly, but then rejected in Parliament in September , stalling key economic governance reforms.

The COVID crisis has resulted in a sharp economic downturn in , with a reduction in tourists and trade disruptions leading to a contraction in growth by 0. However, continued sound macroeconomic management and donor grant inflows have helped further reduce the fiscal deficit to 2. Headline inflation started increasing since January , driven by food price increases, which is undermining household food security.

Foreign aid and remaining links to Britain, its former colonial master, have helped prop up the Jammeh regime, despite serious questions marks over the legitimacy of the last elections in The MRC used to be involved in Aids research. As criticism of the president often comes at high cost, getting locals to talk politics is difficult.

TV is state-controlled. Critical journalists making too much noise? They are jailed. Reports from Amnesty International make uncomfortable reading, citing state-sanctioned use of torture and unlawful arrest. Yet day to day life continues. The president threatened executions for a large number of prisoners last year.