For a country to achieve greater development, it must ensure investment in its agric sector to be able to feed its population.
Once a country makes gains in this agriculture sector, then meeting other areas becomes much easier.
The Gambia is blessed with abundant arable land that supports crop production of any type. The only thing that many farmers lacked was enough wherewithal and other farming inputs to support their daily farming activities.
The Gambian leader, H.E. Adama Barrow recently handed over 60 tractors and their accessories to farmers as part of the government's agric mechanisation drive. This latest consignment is part of a total of 180 tractors that the government plans to procure for onward distribution to Gambian farmers.
Moreover, the move was also in fulfilment of his promises to Gambians, especially farmers. The consignment is also part of the government's broader efforts aimed at transforming the old traditional farming practices. With these farming implements and the necessary inputs, farmers can now be assured of high crop yield, thereby ensuring food self sufficiency. This is a welcome development and we hope our farmers would make best use of the items.
The only and surest way to improve the livelihoods of local farmers, especially those in rural areas, is to embrace the modern form of agriculture. This will not only save time, but would significantly boost their production and lessen the drudgery most normally encounter.
Equally, we call on farming communities to ensure judicious use of the items. They must remember that regular maintenance is crucial to the sustainability of these machineries. To serve them well, they must constitute a committee that will be responsible for all the activities of these farming machines and ensure they save part of the proceeds generated for the services to finance its maintenance in the event it is down.
We commend the government and its partners for their laudable initiative, which is meant to complement the government in boosting local production.