Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The Jakhaly rice-fields are 200 km from the coast, on the south bank of the Gambia River, close to the agricultural research station of Sapu, to the west of Janjanbureh (Georgetown). They formed the first and are still the largest pump-irrigated rice cultivation project in the country, fed from the river and created by the drainage of the freshwater Jakhaly swamp in the 1970s. Rice is cultivated throughout the year and the rice-fields are, in consequence, the largest area of standing water in the Central River Division in the dry season. The landscape is one of dry or shallowly flooded fields with a grid of feeder ditches, earth embankments and dirt tracks. There are some abandoned fields and natural pools with patches of tall swamp vegetation and floating plants dominated by
Nymphaea spp. and
Ipomoea aquatica. There is some scrub and occasional trees along the banks. The fields are in a basin of almost level ground which extends to the riverbank, along which mature trees are more frequent.
See Box for key species. In the 1970s Jakhaly swamp was well known for supporting large numbers of waterfowl, waders and
Balearica pavonina. The rice-fields still regularly hold several thousand waterbirds. They are a breeding and wintering stronghold for
Actophilornis africanus, which number up to 1,000 in the dry season, when hundreds of
Himantopus himantopus,
Limosa limosa and
Tringa glareola are also present. Little is known about the waterbird numbers during the rains. Probable breeding species include
Nettapus auritus,
Porphyrio alleni and
P. porphyrio.
Non-bird biodiversity: There is a declining population of Procolobus badius temminckii (EN) in the riverine woodland.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
No conservation measures have been taken. Waders and waterfowl are recognized by farmers to be pests of rice seed, but are not known to be extensively hunted, though bird-scarers are used. The area of cultivation is being expanded and further areas of riverine woodland bulldozed.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Jakhaly rice-fields (Gambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jakhaly-rice-fields-iba-gambia on 23/11/2024.
