 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11745 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Oct 2007 : 13:41:45
|
Foroyaa Editorial
The Plight of The Gambian Farmer
Agriculture is reported to be providing a means of income to 80 per cent of Gambia’s labour force and contributes 29 per cent of GDP. It is a major foreign exchange earner for the country.
29 per cent of GDP is equivalent to 952 million dalasi. However, 70 per cent of the people living in the rural areas are said to be earning less than 1 dollar a day. These statistics are not invented by Foroyaa. They are manufactured from the raw materials constituting facts provided by the APRC administration.
The cause of the poverty of the groundnut producer is attributable to government policy and management of the groundnut subsector. What is the evidence?
In the 2003/2004 cropping season, the farmers are reported to have produced 92, 937 metric tonnes of groundnuts. In the 2004/2005 cropping season, the quantity of groundnuts produced increased to 135,698 metric tonnes. In the 2005/2006 season, the figure rose to 140, 660 metric tonnes. The farmers have been doing their best to produce despite the high prices of fertilizer and other farm inputs. The major problem has been the marketing and financing of the crop.
In 2004 the government had a Secretary of State who was associated with the groundnut sector for years in the first republic. The farmers were promised the heavens and the earth but to no avail. The Nation was informed before the 2004/2005 cropping season that a new company, that is, The Gambia Agricultural Marketing Company GAMCO had been set up to make credit buying in the groundnut trade history. The government went into a face building exercise by claiming that GAMCO had the requisite funds to buy the whole crop and that a regulatory framework had been created which would not allow any operator in the Market whose business does not satisfy the criteria established for their operation. The small traders were banned from buying groundnuts and all cross border sales were suppressed with unimaginable intolerance.
Did GAMCO salvage the farmers? NO. It threw them into the abyss of uncertainty. The trade season which followed the birth of GAMCO was a disaster. The Parliamentarians who were hoodwinked by GAMCO into believing that the problem of credit buying was over received a rude shock when the farmers in their constituencies told them that
things could not be worse. The rude shock turned into astonishment when it was gathered that GAMCO received loans amounting to 120 million dalasis from local banks relying on social security, a public enterprise, as guarantor. After the 2005/2006 season it became clear that GAMCO was a white elephant which could not rescue the farmers. In fact when the President addressed Parliament in 2006, he claimed that out of 135,698 tonnes of groundnuts produced only 30,000 metric tonnes constituted the commercial crop. When he addressed Parliament in March 2006, when any trade season on groundnuts should have come to an end, he could only mention that 10,000 metric tonnes of groundnuts had been bought. The president said recently that he has been able to develop the country without the help of the traditional donors. Unfortunately, the groundnut sub sector has not benefited from the heavenly banks.
As the trade season drew near, Foroyaa interviewed the SOS for Trade hoping that the government will give assurance to the farmers that concrete financiers and mechanisms are in place to purchase the crops for the 2007/ 2008 cropping season. Now the farmers can keep their fingers crossed and rely on hope to give them confidence that after a rainy season of hunger and deprivation they will receive the products of their sweat without unnecessary delay.
Foroyaa, however, can assure the Gambian farmer that in this coming trade season nobody will exploit them with impunity without being exposed. It is best for the Departments of State for Agriculture and Trade to open up complaints units as Foroyaa will dispatch journalists to all divisions to publish the names of all the operators in the industry and any complaint of wrong doing by them which are authenticated. We shall publish a special column called Farmers Forum to accommodate all the complaints of the farmers and their organizations as well as the world market and regional market prices for farm produce. We will interview representatives of farmers to start the column.
There can be no eradication of poverty without the uplifting of the lives of our Agricultural producers.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 123/2007, 19 – 21 October 2007
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
|
toubab1020
12313 Posts |
Posted - 20 Oct 2007 : 17:22:38
|
I am not sure that the penultimate paragraph, where Foroyaa will set up a Farmers Forum is a good idea,to name and shame people in Gambia can sometimes have unwanted repercussions for the "victims" such as grants and payments may be delayed,I would advise a little caution in setting up the proposed Forum.
|
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
|
 |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| Bantaba in Cyberspace |
© 2005-2024 Nijii |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
