The
Gambia Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Employers’ Association
(GCCI) in partnership with the Gambia Commercial Agricultural Value Chain
Management Project (GCAV) on Tuesday held a day’s forum to critically look at problems
affecting agricultural sector and refinancing possibilities.
Held
at the conference room of the GCCI, the forum discussed the topic: Innovations
in Agricultural Financing.
In
her opening remarks on the occasion, GCCI Business Development Director Sarata
Conateh said discussing such a topic that is trying to find solutions to
agricultural challenges such as financing is very important, as agriculture
plays a great role in the development of The Gambia.
She
said most of the micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in The
Gambia deal in agricultural produce and products.
They
therefore need proper financial support to let them expand and be more viable
players in the economy to alleviate poverty and develop the country’s economy.
In
his remarks on the occasion, GCAV project coordinator Mbye Jabang said the
topic is quite diverse and of paramount importance, as it involves thorough
soul searching of how really agriculture is faring in the country.
He
said in his thirty years of experience in the agriculture sector, MSMEs have
been major players in the country’s economy, such as in the livestock value
chain.
Mr
Jabang said that over the years the focus of support to agriculture had been
directed at products and productivity, to the point that today, the country has
tonnes of crops and livestock products that are wasting about without market
for them.
On
the other hand, he said, the country has continued to largely import food to
the detriment of home-grown produce or products.
This
“anomaly” is because proper processing, packaging and marketing of local
products is lacking in the country.
Over-focusing
on products and productivity has impacted negatively on the sector he said,
adding that rice produce in the country is un-marketed due to many factors such
as lack of proper agricultural financing
“We
need a new paradigm shift as far as agriculture is concerned,” he said.
He
also said a lot of resources had been put into agricultural projects to support
MSMEs, through World Bank and African Development Bank funding and loans, but
much had not been realised over the years.
“We
need to examine what are the problems and focus on trying to solve them,” he
added.
Presentations
on policy and regulatory environment for financing sector, experiences on
financing agricultural MSMEs by institutions like Reliance Financial Services
and FiBank, as well as examples of financing innovations for agricultural
MSMEs, were presented by Central Bank of The Gambia’s Deputy Director at
Microfinance Dept, Dr Seeku A.K. Jaabi, Reliance’s Barra Branch Manager Lamin
Bojang, FiBank’s Deputy Manager for
International Banking Sulayman M. Trawally, and Development specialist Amadou
Gaye of 3A’s Solutions.
The
issues were discussed by all stakeholders at the forum including farmers,
livestock owners, agribusiness entrepreneurs, bankers, and other financial
institution players.
