The Daily Observer (Banjul)
20 June 2008
editorial
If our staple food is rice, which it really is, one wonders why we cannot produce enough of it to cater for our needs. Records indicate that Gambians consume far more quantity of rice than what is produced at home. Of course this is not a new piece of information; but our ability to endure adverse situations make us a unique people in the world. This, apparently, has warranted the profit-minded business people to always take advantage. And over the years, we have become addicted to imported rice that we became ignorant of the implications of discounting home grown varieties.
This is unacceptable for a country like The Gambia, given its aptness for agricultural productivity. The problem, certainly, has no bearing with environmental requirement, nor is it connected to the availability of labour. If we would blame it on any thing, it could only be attitude. And every Gambian would be culpable.
The rainy season is just at the corner. If there was any preparation that we were supposed to do in readiness for the farming season, it should have been done by now. The government of The Gambia has exhausted every bit of effort, with the president of the Republic using his annual 'Dialogue With the People's Tour' to discuss with the traditional farming community relevant issues.
Coincidentally, his last tour came at a time when the world was confronted with the shocking phenomenon of unacceptable surge in price of the basic life supporting needs; food and fuel. These two commodities are somehow interrelated as in some quarters, the shortage of rice supply is being blamed on the crazy idea of 'fuel for energy'. Fuel for food aside. Beneath the intricacies of all of these happenings, there is undoubtedly a force. Some people are undeniably benefiting from the precariousness of the situation. We can however curtail the effects if we put our houses in order.
As an agrarian nation like ours, if there is any major lesson The Gambia can deduce from this year's experience, it should be the issue of food shortage. Obviously, the whole world has been taken by surprise, because we had been so much taken care of by a minute section of the world's community that we became almost contented with the way things were prevailing.
Traditionally, there is this confusion on the part of the majority of Gambian farmers, as to what category of farmers they are. Whilst many claim to be subsistence farmers, they in fact operate as commercial farmers, with groundnut and rice at the top, as their favorite choice. Well, there might not be any problem with being either a commercial or subsistence farmer. However, it is not at all admirable to have a situation wherein farmers do not even know what role they are playing in their own domain. In such a jigsaw puzzle, we have all become kind of spellbound, addicted to these two crops.
Of course, groundnut, in the recent past, had been the actual cash crop, mostly sold off after harvest. And we have always had to consume our rice ourselves. But what is more imperative and urgent is that we needed to diversify our produce. And when the major rice exporting nations struck with their change of policy, it was bound to spark alarm.
The only option left now is to diversify our crops. Indeed, institutions like NARI and NADA can be of great help in this regard. Research activities need to be carried out to establish more products that can be gotten from some of the crops that do well in The Gambia, like millet, sorghum, etc. The task is for all of us, but it is more so for our numerous agricultural technocrats.
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