The
Minister of Agriculture has said that the agricultural sector needs to be
reformed to bring back the cooperative societies which had helped the
tremendous development of the sector in the 1960’s.
Minister
Omar Jallow said the revival of the cooperative societies would boost the
groundnut sector and bring back cotton farming like the early days when the
North Bank Region used to be the commercial centre for agriculture.
He
made his remarks while visiting various agricultural project sites in North
Bank and other regions as part of his nationwide tour, facilitated by the
Central Project Coordination Unit of the Department of Agriculture.
On
the first day of the tour, the minister and delegation visited Wassu livestock
regional centre, funded by Department of Livestock; Madina Lamin Kanteh women’s
vegetable garden, funded by FAO through the MDG 1c project, and the Kerewan
market, funded NEMA project.
The
agriculture minister said in addition to reforming the sector to bring back
cooperative societies, the agriculture sector also needs to be commercialised
to introduce and encourage year round production.
“Farmers
should operate like ordinary businessmen,” he said.
The
NEMA project coordinator, Momodou Gassama, said the project is designed to
improve the livelihoods of rural farmers through economic empowerment.
Aziz
Sowe, manager of Njau village Mix Farming Centre in Central River Region, said
at the village level, more than 300 women are involved in maize and onion
production.
