During a meeting held in Kiang Keneba, Lower River Region over the weekend as part of President Jammeh’s Dialogue With The People Tour, he stated that local food production should improve remarkably by 2016 as government has set a roadmap to enhance growth in agriculture and entice young people in farming.
The top government official said: “Operation National Food Security Co-operation is a government-led initiative that places full emphasis on revamping the agriculture sector through our collective national effort. The leadership has taken pride in setting up a timeline to increase local food production as a sure route to end the importation of food items from other countries. The issue is not about hunger but we have for many past years depended heavily on imported food items which had greatly stretched our national budget which could have been better managed and spent on other more important issues.”
Mr Sabally who is also the minister of presidential affairs pointed out that increased local food production would significantly reverse the trend of food importation leading to a new price fall of all food commodities. He stated that the National Food Security Co-operation is an initiative that seeks to help in the drive to attain food security with support from other stakeholders in the agriculture sector.
He added: “Many multi-lateral institutions like the World Bank have expressed interest in supporting the new government initiative to boost agricultural production in the country. It’s therefore all the more crucial for Gambians to be part of the drive to achieve national food security and further put the country in the perfect position to export rice and other food items to the rest of the world.”
The top minister indicated that self-fed and independent agriculture rests on us as citizens of this country and that all regions must show willingness to engage fully in farming. He noted that a redirected effort to boost local food production will lift the country out of its present predicament where it spends millions of dollars on imported food. He urged all Gambians to invest in agriculture.
By Lamin Njie
]]>
