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Momodou
Denmark
11738 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 15:58:21
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THE PRESIDENT ADDRESSES THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Editor’s Note
It was Foroyaa’s intention to publish the president’s address in full and then our comments. However we are still unable to lay hands on the publication. The following are detailed summaries by Abdoulie Dibba.
On Agriculture
The president said that his government continues to be fully committed to the revitalisation and improvement of the agricultural sector in order to ensure increased agricultural output, foreign exchange earnings and national food and income security. He pointed out that the current restructuring of the Department of State for Agriculture has led to the creation of the National Agricultural Development Agency whose main objectives include the effective and efficient generation, mobilisation and utilization of human, financial and material resources for the sustainable development of the sector. President Jammeh said that they are in the process of finalizing the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Policy which would be a road map for the collective actions necessary to make the ANR sector more responsive to the prevailing circumstances and challenges. The President told Deputies that the agricultural sector preformed reasonably well during the year under review, registering a 3% and 4% increase on cereals and groundnut production, respectively. Concluding on this sector, the president said that the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP) being funded by the African Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched in April 2006 is tasked to empower farming communities to increase productivity of crops, livestock and forest resources at the grass-roots level through the transfer and control of efficient land use Management from government to the local communities.
Our Comment
According to government studies about 60 percent of the population is under 24 years and 45 percent of the total population is in the labour force. Over 70 percent of the labour force engage in agriculture and the informal sector. It states that agriculture is highly labour intensive and a substantial portion of it falls outside the monetised economy. It is also vulnerable to external shock e.g. decline in commodity prices, rising oil prices and international currency appreciation. How it protects a rural community, whose economic activity even the government claims to be seasonal from the adverse economic and society conditions, is what the government’s agricultural policy should address.
The president claims that they are in the process of finalizing the Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy of the Government. Readers should note that it took 13 years to come up with such a policy even though agriculture is seen to be the backbone of the Gambian economy. Foroyaa will review the policy when it comes out. However one claim that Foroyaa wishes to review is the indication that the agricultural sector has done reasonably well during the year under review, registering 3% and 4% increase in cereal and groundnut production respectively. However, the president fails to indicate the long standing problems of marketing the groundnuts. In his 2006 address the president said, “In our relentless and collective efforts to combat and eradicate abject poverty, my Government stands firmly resolute to eradicate abject poverty particularly among rural dwellers. However, we have not been given any statistics this year to show how far the country is moving towards self reliance in food production. Needless to say nothing is said regarding the mechanism in place to ensure the purchases of a groundnut crop which is claimed to amount to over 140,000 metric tonnes. The price of D7500 per metric tones which was offered in 2005/2006 is now reduced to D6500 per metric tonne. Nothing was said regarding the progress of groundnut purchases for the 2006/2007 crop. In the past the president would mention the companies purchasing nuts such as Gamco and GGC and indicate the tonnage purchased so far. In this year’s address nothing was said on that matter. The purchasing of groundnuts is clearly not going reasonably well and it is part and parcel of the agricultural sector. What the National Assembly members need are explanations from the executive as to why the groundnuts of the farmers they represent could not be bought and what Government has in place to remedy the problem. Without such information, the claim that the agricultural sector is doing reasonably well may be seen as mere wishful thinking.
To be continued
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No 28/2007, 9th -11th March 2007
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