The partnership between The Gambia and the EIF began with country-led evidence‑based research and analysis to identify its pro-poor trade priorities. The resulting policy-guiding document – the 2007 Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) – identified diversification and domestic production of goods and services in the areas of tourism, groundnuts and other agriculture products and fishing as sectors with the potential to spur sustainable development.

In countries where farming sustains families and economies, sustainable trade in agricultural products means everything

In The Gambia, one of the industries ripe with potential for growth identified by EIF and the government was the cashew. By supporting the cashew’s entire chain of production – from farmers’ fields to the development of a new cargo facility – the EIF equipped cashew farmers with new skills and the food safety certification needed to export to markets such as the European Union (EU).