An estimated 89000 people in the Gambia will be in need of food assistance between this June and August due to the drop in 2018 production of groundnuts, the major cash crop, a regional study has revealed.
According to The Cadre Harmonisé (CH), a current regional framework aimed to prevent food crisis by quickly identifying affected populations and proffering appropriate measures to improve their food and nutrition security, about 46 000 people were estimated to be in need of food assistance from March to May 2019, with a slight increase from the 45 000 people estimated in March to May 2018.
It said the number is expected to increase to over 89 000 people during the lean season (June to August 2019) if no mitigation actions are taken.
The report said despite adequate availabilities of grains on markets, most households do not have enough access to food as prices of most staple foods are above average and households’ purchasing power declined due to the drop in 2018 production of groundnuts, the major cash crop.
It added that, some vulnerable households still depend on external food assistance to satisfy their food consumption.
The report said the country’s farming season is already hit by a delays in planting operations of millet, rice, maize and sorghum crops, to be harvested from October due to late start of the ongoing rainy season.
It added that the low cumulative rainfall amounts since June resulted in poor crop germination rates and some replanting may be required.
Well below-average
The report said the country’s 2018 agricultural season was characterised by late onsets of rains across all regions, prolonged and abnormal cessation of rains (three to four weeks) and outbreaks of Fall Armyworms.
“This has resulted in delayed planting or germination failure of crops that were often needed to be replanted with consequent extra costs for farmers,” it stated.
“The 2018 national cereal production was estimated at 93 000 tonnes, about 50 percent below the average of the previous five years and 24 percent below the previous year’s output. Groundnuts, the main cash crop, also declined by 54 percent compared to 2017 and 66 percent compared to the five-year average. Major declines were also observed in maize and millet production.”
The report said the Gambia is currently importing more than over half of the national cereal utilisation in the country.
It said rice accounts for about 70 percent of overall cereal import requirements in the Gambia, followed by wheat, which accounts for about 20 percent.
It added: “Import requirements for the 2018/19 (November/October) marketing year are forecast at an above-average level of 250 000 tonnes. Following last year’s production decline, the country built up substantial level of stocks with a record of rice imports. Consequently, imports in 2018/19 are expected to fall slightly compared to last year’s record, as stocks will be drawn down to meet national food requirement.”
Agriculture remains our most important sector. 42% of our GDP. 80% employment. You kidding me. On my recent visit to the ministry, this is my observation:
1. The ministry does not have a concise plan to improve the agriculture sector.
2. The leadership does not understand the core responsibilities of the ministry
3. The leadership does not understand the simple concept of food science.
4. Amie Fabureh is no more than a CLERK, the woman lacks vision, the education, experience and capacity to be Minister of Agriculture.
Now, Mr Barrow must stop playing politics with department of agriculture and place competent persons to manage the affairs of this most important ministry.
God Help Us.
Dr Isatou Sarr,
You see, the dire problems of our home is not the STUPID TRRC, but hunger, bad health unemployment, insecurity, unaffordable/escalating prices of basic consumer commodities; unaffordable costs in education and transport; deterioration of the existing infrastructure; nepotism, patronage and corruption in public offices, unaffordable fertilizer prices…….the list goes on.
In my mum’s place of birth Sami District, CRR, the women rice farmers from the village Tankong Kunda may not cultivate rice this year. This village produces the highest volume of rice in the whole district. The produce for consumption is stored the whole year and the surplus is sold to defray costs for their children’s schooling and other miscellaneous expenditures.
Thanks to the tractors afforded to them by President Jammeh.
The tractors were seized by the authorities for no reason and this year the village either chooses the rudimentary hand ploughing method or stop rice cultivation. The village has economically fared well from rice production during the President administration.
What a STUPID and IDIOTIC policy of seizing the tractors from the farmers to sell them to buddies in the construction sector.
But Barrow gets your unwaivering support with your kind of bland, soft and conformist criticisms. It can be observed how your opposition to the Barrow administration is a joke, a laughable substance. The same Bax style of opposition.
Babu Soli, as I always say, I do not make any excuses for Barrow and his administration, but threats to food security is a chronic problem of The Gambia well before Barrow came into office, and records are there to verify this fact.
I do not know Sami or the village you mentioned, but I doubt your story and will take it with a pinch of salt, knowing the kinds of claims you sometinmes make to dismiss this government, the latest being that Mr Darboe, whose death is allegedly link to his detention, was “bludgeoned to death”; a completely false statement from you.
Moreover, amongst the numerous problems of Gambian Farmers is the dependence on rain fed agriculture, despite the country being blessed with abundant fresh water sources. So Yaya Jammeh, who had over 20 years in office, in not entirely blameless for the plight of the farmers today.
Bax,
Look Bax, I don’t understand your stance on the death of Darboe.
This man was detained by the police for buying stolen goods, gave over D15,000 to bribe his release, lost both monies, beaten in custody for nine days until the police were aware that wouldn’t survive the ordeal. His release was an undercover and false pretence. So it doesn’ t matter anymore where he died. He died under police custody. PERIOD.
We cannot make any jurisdictional judgement of when, where and how he died. That would be hypocritical and lending hands to a fascist police institution in the hands of a cold-blooded murderous Barrow.
What do you know beyond the confines of the metropolitan Gambia? I am a village boy who worked through the length and breadth of the Gambia, so if you don’t believe my story about Tankong Kunda, I ‘m not bothered about that. Try to find out and come out with a genuine contrasting argument.
It’s disapponting that you don’t know where this famous village is in the Sami district.
A panel of investigators has been set up to look into the circumstances of Mr Darboe’s death and I have no doubts that truth will be established. So, we can all refrain from telling imaginary stories.
But here’s the thing Babu: Your concerns for the late Mr Darboe are not genuine because you have not shown any concerns for the hundreds of victims murderers and thrown into an abandoned well in a foreign country.
Until you condemn Yaya Jammeh for the brutal killings he ordered, your tears for the victims under Barrow should be seen as crocodile tears.
@Babu: a sadist killer like Yaya Jammeh has never been born on the Gambian soil. True to the nature of a typical Afrikkan dictator, he relishes the pain and suffering of his fellow human beings. The gruesome manner in which his victims are murdered does not provide enough adjectives to describe his wickedness and cowardice.
For any sane Gambian to try to sanitize those brutal crimes by contextualizing in relative terms is insensitive, wicked, disrespectful, sadistic, sickening and immoral. Where is your conscience Babu? Where is the love you claim for all Gambians irrespective of social standing, ethnolinguistic background, gender, religion and age. Where is that love?
Yes Adama Barrow is all those things you mentioned; corrupt, nepotistic, lying, lazy etc. And of course our “security apparatus” is corrupt, brutal and unprofessional.
But SHEIKH PROFESSOR DOCTOR NASIRUDEEN BABILI MANSA YAYA ABDUL AZIZ JEMUS JUNKUNG JAMMEH is a million times everything you could ascribe to Adama Barrow.
I would be ashamed to associate myself with a person who sodomizes young under age girls for his depraved sexual fantasies. I would also be ashamed to associate myself with a person who thinks he should go to bed with every woman he could get by virtue of the power he wielded. With more revelations coming out on the callousness of Yaya and his APRC regime, decent human beings are distancing themselves more and more from both. That’s the ethical thing to do.
Those who chose to remain in denial are free to do so. But they should also show respect to others by not making a mockery of their lost and enduring pain.
Mwalimu
The most sadistic regime and individuals are the PPP and Jawara followers. Those who killed over 800 Gambians in cold blood, in all cruelty, aided by foreign invading troops.
Those episodes were visible and you, Mwalimu, and all those vilifying President
Jammeh are doing it from third parties. How true the stories are, depend on each person’s vision and conscience.
Why do you want to bury the most horrendous genocide in our political history, the 1981 brutal massacre of our people?
Have you greaved with the families of the 1981 innocent soul? With your zeal to bring truth have you ever spoken truthfully about the Senegalese massacre of our people under Jawara’s command?
Look, your hate for Yaya does not have any effects on my love for a man whose tacit zeal to improve the livelihood of our people is incalculable.
Why do you want me to behave your way? I am well above being manipulated.
I don’t listen to the TRRC deliberations because I have reiterated on several occasions that I don’t recognize that foolish council, so I don’t care anything coming from there.
Babu Soli, either you are being careless with your choice of words or you are deliberately attempting to falsify and rewrite history, with your half truths and outright false claims. You will not succeed because many here, including myself, lived in the heart of happenings in 1981 and witnessed events closely from start to finish.
Your claims that the Senegalese committed genocide and massacre under Jawara’s command is a load of hokey-pokeys that is just laughable. Both genocide and massacre presupposes the premeditated gunning down of an unarmed group of victims, which was not the case in 1981.
Babu, I’m picking up from where I stopped last night.
Many who died as a result of Senegalese fire were enemy combatants, who had engaged the more equipped, more superior, more organised and better trained Senegalese Forces, as soon as they (Senegalese) came within range of fire. As a teenager and lucky to live close to the action areas, I can still remember seeing bullets piercing the night sky, as the rebels indiscriminately opened fire in their attempt to take out Senegalese copters and paratroopers, as they landed in the night sky, as early as Friday or Saturday evening. And the Senegalese paratroopers did take casualties at the initial stage and even a captain was captured, after landing close to rebels. I think he was later rescued, along with Jawara’s family, who were kept alive, as a pressure tool on Jawara.
The Senegalese Forces were provoked by an enemy that had no regard for, or was even aware of, the rules of military engagement, so their reaction is understood and probably justified.
There were civilian casualties, as in any urban conflict, but those deaths cannot be called genocide or massacre because of the absence of a premeditated plan to kill civilians. Civilians do get caught up in urban conflicts, especially the nosy and busy body types, and there were many of those in 1981, including myself. I am just fortunate to be here today.
We (myself and my peers) were on the highway, by the agric horticultural centre junction, just by Charles Lwanga Church ( If you know Latri Kunda Sabiji) on that Sunday morning, when Jawara was thought to have been brought back. You could see all the way to Tabokoto Market, if you stand at that junction and we saw a convoy of Senegalese armoured tanks coming towards us. They were shooting like mad, but luckily not directly at the many busy bodies out and about, but just above our heads. You could actually hear bullets whizzing past overhead, as we scattered and ran for shelter.
We did lose a peer group member on that day who is said to have been sitting in the branch of a mango tree in their yard to get a better view, and was hit by bullets and died on the spot.
Having quelled the rebellion and restored law and order, Jawara was responsible for whatever happened afterwards, and a lot did happen. There was mass arrest of “suspects” across the country, indefinite detention without trial and brutal torture and mistreatment of detainees. I remember a couple of shootings and killing of unarmed civilians by Senegalese Soldiers because they had verbal altercations: one by then PPP Minister OJ’s compound and one in Brikama.
The mass grave you always allude to is a FACT, though I don’t know where you get your figure of 800 victims from, but what needs to be pointed out is the fact that the majority in that grave died at the hands of the loyal Gambian Forces, as they battled to stop the mass looting and restore law and other and the rebels themselves, who were mostly drunk and not trained to handle firearms. Others just went on a vendetta against persons they had scores to settle with and became cold blooded killers.
As a whole, apart from the unfortunate deaths and ill treatment of detainees, I think the Senegalese performed well, under the circumstances, but even if you don’t agree with me, there is no way that your charge of genocide and massacre can be true.
By the way Babu, there was a massacre of West African citizens (mostly Ghanians) by the Junglers, under orders from Yaya Jammeh. The charge of massacre holds here, as the group was large enough, unarmed and not involved in any conflict. There was also a premeditated plan to kill.
What do you have to say about that cold blooded massacre of innocent young people, whose only crimes were being poor and wanting to venture abroad, via the back way route, and being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
My heart is free from hate for any human being. I only have a dislike of certain character traits. Second, I don’t expect you to “behave” like me. I guess none of us here would like that kind of homogeneity in views and orientation. Our diversity is what makes us reach and interesting. I don’t mean that by way of only languages and other cultural practices. It’s also the heterogeneity of our political views, taste in food, clothing, religions etc.
Having said that, there are values we both need to observe and subscribe to for the common good.
The Senegalese intervention in The Gambia in 1981 and the causes of the rebellion are very similar to what we saw on the 25th July in Brikama and Serer Kunda. There are two actors. The state and a loosely organized group of people who are venting frustration over a lack of mobility in economic status and freedoms. Dawda Jawara make so many blunders in the aftermath of that upheaval. You know very well I hold him responsible for thirty years of failures and deaths.
My only question is: why are you failing to hold Yaya Jammeh to the same standards.
NB: Here is a post from the families of the two Gambian-Americans brutally murdered by your “hero”.
What has been most painful is not because we lost Alhagi and Ebou but has been every time we are about to come to terms with their dead we relive it all over again
Thank you to everyone that has called, texted, prayed, comforted us all during this difficult period.Your prayers did not go in vain for it is what has kept us going
Anyone that knew Alhagie and Ebou knew they were peaceful, humble and easygoing. It was the love of Gambia that made them took that journey in May 2013. They had plans to open businesses, build a computer school to give back to the youths the same opportunity they had in the US. They took their life savings to invest in Gambia.
Yaya Jammeh, Saul Badjie, Yankuba Badjie and your goons you kill them simple because of money not anything else!
Be assured you and your men will pay for every life you ever took! Justice must be served so that we can ensure #NeverAgain #TRRC
May all the Victims continue to Rest In Peace. May Allah make it easy for all the family’s and all Gambian’s. Ameen.
I hope you can one day face these families and tell them Yaya is not a murderer.
Scientists has already warned us that global warming will cause a serious threat to the climate which will eventually cause seasonal rainfall imbalance. Some areas will experience unusually downpours which could cause damage to property and lives. Some areas will experience short of rainfall and dryness perhaps extremely high temperature. We as a human collectively can prevent this from occurring if we all work together both local, nationally and internationally to tackle waste and emissions that produce tons of carbon dioxide every day, if not countries in Africa example Gambia will be hit hard on this issues. Forestry play very important roles on our lives, instead some people going in clearing these forests just to get timbers, unfortunately we will have a problem there and is alot to talk about this issues, I will just stop here and let’s someone else finish it up, an also blaming too much won’t work, this requires solutions and education in order to remedy the situation.