By Ismaila M.S.Naban
The Gambian leader Mr. Adama Barrow has outlined his government’s performances in the various sectors, during his 5th State of Nation Address (SoNA) as President of this country, before the legislative branch of the Gambian government.
Addressing the country’s lawmakers for the 2021 Legislative Year at the National Assembly complex in the capital city, Banjul, President Barrow, who’s fulfilling a constitutional requirement, has avowed that his government would continue to “invest in mechanised harvesting methods to stimulate mechanical threshing and reduce the workload on women”.
He pointed out that, “Training small-scale processors will expose them to good processing practices for product safety and quality assurance, besides investments in expanding irrigation facilities.” He also indicated that rightly too, the sector puts due emphasis on supporting medium-scale businesses, processing facilities, strengthening public and private sector veterinary service delivery, and efficient management of resources.
President Barrow informed, “The Government’s vision is to increase food and nutrition security, while enhancing economic growth through the agriculture sector.
“The Ministry of Agriculture strives, therefore, to increase productivity, based on the sustainable use and management of our natural resources.”
The president said to achieve this, the Agricultural Transformation Programme (ATP) has been structured around production and productivity, promotion of value chains, market competitiveness, and youth employment in Agriculture.
To increase production and support the farming community during the 2020 cropping season, he continued to point out, 36,489 bags of fertilizer, 3,751 bags of improved rice varieties, 2,358 bags of groundnuts, 727 bags of maize, and 11 bags of findi were procured and made available to Gambian farmers.
According to him, in preparation for this cropping season, the Ministry of Agriculture, through GGC (Gambia Groundnut Corporation) had procured a consignment of 20,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer and delivered it in March, 2021.
“I am proud to say that Government also distributed farm implements to the farmers to reduce unnecessary hard work and boost production and productivity. The items included power tillers, threshers and milling and pumping machines. For use this farming season, 50 tractors were distributed recently,” the audience heard from their chief of state.
Barrow further said to develop the agricultural value chain and marketing promotion, the ATP would continue to promote mechanisation by supplying land preparation, seeding and weeding machines. He charged that implementing the project would upgrade and upscale rice processing by introducing an integrated rice parboiling and milling machines through Public-Private-Partnership; and that the ATP would promote small-scale processing at the level of the farmers.
On a parallel development, from its 100 million dalasi supplementary budget allocation, the agriculture sector spent 60 million dalasis on equipment, he noted.
“On the list were threshing and milling machines, power tillers, harvesters and pumping machines for irrigation. Aside from these, draught animals were purchased and distributed to the farmers on demand,” said the President. Specific to Value Chain Financing, the programme, he held, would expand matching grant funds using grassroots structures, such as credit unions.
“Similarly, it is hoped that initiating at least 5 Agricultural insurance schemes will make agricultural lending safer.
“Through PPP, the programme will provide seed money for these schemes. On the other hand, the PPP will entrust the partner private sector insurance body with the management responsibilities,” he disclosed. Besides, he went on, “it will facilitate establishing an Agricultural Development Bank that focuses on development financing for agricultural value chains”.
As usual, the President’s speech also touched on the Youth and Sports sector of the country, saying to effectively and efficiently promote youth and sports development, the Youth and Sports sector is reviewing some of their sector policies. These, he pointed out, include the National Sports Policy and various frameworks of the satellite Institutions, adding among them is a draft five-year strategic plan (2020-2024) for sports development. The president also told the lawmakers that in line with the development of the country’s human resource base, 3,724 young persons have benefited from skills training.
“Some of them have already earned skills in construction and related areas. The Ministry profiled 1,000 youths for possible financial support. These achievements are a result of the partnership built with NEDI, PIA and the NYSS.”
He went on to report that, taking cue from the decentralisation policy for youth empowerment, the Youth and Sports Ministry signed a contract to establish agro-food centres and build nine stadiums, a bakery and an auto-mechanic centre this year.
Meanwhile, the president while declaring the National Youth Service Scheme ‘is actively engaging and equipping our youths’ with livelihood skills in various walks of life, was however quick to add, “unfortunately, the proposed Youth National Service is on hold due to the pandemic.”
But hear him: “Despite this setback, the National Youth Council was able to facilitate, for over 25,000 youths, access to financing, employment, or economic development opportunities offered by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and TEKKI FII [Make It In The Gambia] partners.
“To complement this, the Council is mapping and profiling 172 youth organisations into thematic areas for better coordination and facilitation.”
“I must add that over 3,000 youths and schools benefited from Migration Information and Counselling (MIC) activities. These included training of School Peer Education Clubs, peer educators and teacher coordinators on Migration and MIC,” he stated.
President Barrow continued to cite the country’s recent strives in the sporting arena, stating the Gambia is doing very well in various international sports competitions, such as football, athletics, volleyball and boxing.
He underlined: “For the first time, the nation looks forward to participating in the 2022 CAF tournament, and we do so with enthusiasm and hope. We congratulate all those who raised the Gambian flag high in recent years, including the participants in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
Barrow, in concluding his 2021 SoNA, expressed ‘much appreciation and gratitude’ to the Gambian lawmakers, saying through the National Assembly, “you made many good decisions and approved numerous Bills”. He put on record that the budget requests granted have contributed remarkably to the multiple projects his administration has implemented successfully, as well as those in progress. He gave them a pat on the back with a ‘Thank you very much indeed’.
“I renew my promise to the people of this beloved land and the international community to commit myself to the principles of democracy, good governance and the Rule of Law within the framework of serving my people and my country selflessly and devotedly. In this regard, I ask for your continued support and cooperation,” the NAMs heard.
“To conclude, I thank you all for your attention and pray that the Almighty God continues to bless our efforts, protect us and grant us peace and stability,” he rounded off.
Among the president’s audience were members of his cabinet, other senior government officials, diplomats as well as other personalities who gathered to listen to him, as others glued to the TVs at home, among other things.
