By Fatou Saho
A report released by the Prioritising SPS Investment for Market Access (P-IMA) tool has outlined that the investment need for groundnut would generate a possible value change of $5.7 million for The Gambia.
The report was developed by the Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA) and its implementing agency from Ghana through funding from the World Trade Organisation meant to identify and prioritise the constraints that limit Gambian exports.
Among the commodities in the P-IMA report are cashew nuts tagged at $3,478,000 and a value change of $52,359,000. This is the first priority in the report, followed by groundnut, which requires aflatoxin control and management with an investment need of $573,500 to obtain a value change of $5,700,000 and a host of other commodities.
During the validation of the said report, a member of the technical team and a senior staff member of FSQA, Abdoulie Jallow, said if the country focused on the identified issues of its export products, it would generate more income and its farmers would have more money.
The director of FSQA, Momomdou Bah, said groundnut used to be one of Gambia’s major export commodities in the international market, but recently, with the high availability of aflatoxin, Gambian groundnuts are no longer exported to European markets.
