By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
Ali Sallah, a young entrepreneur engaging in farming activities in the Central River Region South and North Bank Region, respectively, has expressed his frustrations over what he termed the “poor Ferry services” in rural Gambia.
Speaking to Mansa Banko Online, Mr. Sallah could not hide his dissatisfaction with the situation at the Janjanbureh–Lamin Koto Ferry crossing point, alleging that the service is getting poorer and poorer daily, in this farming season.
“Now is the time, for us the farmers to be transporting our farm produce to the markets but the ferry services are not good at all,” he claimed.
“Today (Friday, 13th December, 2019) at around 3pm, when I contacted the staff of the Janjanbureh ferry via telephone, I was told that the ferry is in good condition and is providing services. But to my surprise, when I arrived there with my truck loaded with bags of groundnut, the ferry was out of services.
“It was around 5pm, when I arrived, just to be told that the ferry is not working,” the groundnut farmer complained. He alleged that sometimes, the ferry would have a breakdown three times a day; and their maintenance work is very slow. According to Sallah, that had immensely contributed in slowing down his business. He, therefore, called for relevant authorities to look into the matter and urgently address it, for the free movement of goods and services.
”On Friday, it was not possible to cross with the Janjanbureh-Lamin Koto Ferry, at all”, the disgruntled Sallah told this medium, as he chided, “yesterday, it was not possible to cross. These people are very useless. We suffer a lot on these ferry services”.
He stated that when the Janjanbureh-Lamin Koto Ferry is out of services, he uses the Kaur Ferry. But in his explanation, that too is not without constraints, as he alleged that the “Kaur Ferry crossing Ramp is not good”.
He argued that when crossing with the Kaur Ferry with a truck loaded with bags of groundnut, one needs to offload the truck because of the poor ramp at the ferry crossing point.
“You have to pay for the offloading and on-loading of the bags, which is also another expenses on me”, Sallah bemoaned. In an apparent frustrated mood, Sallah charged, “Unquestionably, the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) needs to seriously look into the plights of rural Ferries, because the services are very poor.”
Talking on his business, Sallah informed this medium that the trucks he loaded with groundnuts were all heading to Senegal. When asked why, he then reasoned that, government of the Gambia had not announced the price for this year’s groundnut season. {It could be noted that Government had, subsequent to this interview, announced prices}.
Sallah had this to add: “Even with the price the government announcement for this year’s groundnut season, many farmers will not sell their groundnut because the market is already available in Senegal and the price is good.”
He indicated that in the Senegalese settlements like Touba, Kungel and Misira, they are buying farmers’ groundnuts at D21,000.00 per ton as well as the middlemen while government peak its price at D18,000.00 per ton. This, Sallah affirmed, is a very good price.
Hear the unhappy farmer again: “In fact, I can say that many of our Gambian farmers have and are still selling their groundnuts to the Senegalese and middlemen because of the good price that they pay.” To him, the beauty of selling one’s groundnut to the Senegalese vendors is “cash and carry”.
Also voicing his grievance on the “poor ferry services” was Messr. Alagie Touray, a Senegalese national engaged in the buying and selling of groundnuts. He called on the Gambia Ports Authority to do its utmost to address the issue.
Mansa Banko Online will contact Gambia Ports Authority on this matter.
