The
alarm bells as regards the state of food insecurity and malnutrition in the
country have been rung, with dire tunes that call for serious and meaningful
actions from all stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the nation,
particularly the Ministry of Agriculture.
It
has been noted that nearly 300,000 people in the country risk being without
access to sufficient quantity and nutritious food, which may have devastating
effects on their health.
In
this case, malnutrition – physical weakness and bad health from lack of
sufficient nutritious food – will be the ultimate state of our people’s health
condition, as already indicated by research and reports of international bodies
like the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
According
to FAO reports (2014), agriculture accounts for 23% of The Gambia’s GDP and
employs 75% of the rural population yet food security is an increasing problem,
with 285,000 people at risk of food insecurity.
The
nation, it is stated, is also grappling with food and nutrition security
issues, which are a challenge in all the five regions of the country, with some
regions, such as Central River Region North and South, and Upper River Region,
already classified as entering “the red zone”, indicating an emergency
situation.
Another
dire situation, as discovered, is lack of nutritious food and knowledge on
nutrition, particularly for mothers, which results into critical deficiencies
for children.
This
challenge is confronting the nation through the axis of the agriculture
ministry, which is the ministry charged with the responsibility to brainstorm and
lead in efforts at finding solutions to our food security challenges as well as
at transforming our agricultural sector for the better.
How
far this has been achieved is the concern of the people of this country, which
calls for a concerted effort involving national and international stakeholders
such as Food and Agriculture Organsiation, World Food Programme, the European
Union, and United Purpose (formerly known as Concern Universal).
This
effort is expected to be championed by the Ministry of Agriculture, at whose
table the task lies for accomplishing an agricultural system that does not only
provide adequate nutritional foods to attain food security in The Gambia but
also generates substantial riches for the government and people of this
country.
“Agriculture
not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own. ”
Samuel
Johnson
