By Omar Bah
The price for a ton of groundnut is pegged at D17, 300 officials revealed as the trade season opens this week.
According to official sources, this is a marked improvement from the past season representing an increase nearly D2,000 in the take-home of farmers selling their products at all seccos in the country.
On Saturday President Adama Barrow announced at Buffer Zone that all monies for the purchase of groundnuts are at hand and are being distributed to all buying points in the country.
Meanwhile, groundnut farmers representing their various organizations and cooperatives met at an annual farmers’ convergence in Jenoi Saturday and called on President Adama Barrow to immediately look into the activities of the management of Gambia Groundnut Cooperation.
Omar Darboe, a farmer from Farab-sutu criticised GGC for killing the spirits of Gambian groundnut farmers. Darboe also called for farmers to be brought closer to the decision making processes, especially on decisions that affect them.
The farmer also accused former President Yahya Jammeh of blackmailing them for 22-years.
Mr Darboe said all he (Jammeh) was good at is “blackmailing farmers by claiming that he cares for us, whiles that was the opposite. We were suffering under Jammeh but none of us had the gut to say a word, if you do, you will end up in Mile 2.”
He said even Jammeh’s operation back to the land was just a formality to blackmail the farmers.
“His intention was to feed Kanilai. The Jahally Pacharr rice fields are clear testimony to that. He was only good at cheap talks but he has done nothing meaningful for us,” he said.
The executive secretary of agribusiness services and producers association, ASPA Abdoulie Khan, recalled how the former president unconditionally closed ASPA just for taking part in a deal that brought 60 tons of groundnut seeds to the Gambia for four years.
