As a key component in a country's socio-economic development, many people are now taking advantage to invest in this sector.
Aside from their economic benefit, such as meat, milk, eggs, and other animal products, the sector continues to be and is one of the guaranteed ways of achieving food security.
However, the sector, which continues to be a dominant feature for most rural dwellers, has taken a downward spiral curve. It is no hidden secret that Gambian’s love for meat and other products obtained from animals is huge.
However, this has led to a surge in price of animals especially during the Muslims feast of Tobaski and naming ceremonies, where most people slaughter animals as food.
Today, travel to any nearest animal selling point and the price tag for animals would amaze one. This is because many farmers in the country are no longer rearing animals in their backyards as they used to be.
It is high time; government comes up with active programmes and policies to revive the sector. To this end, there is a need for strong programmes guided by expertise in order to make headway.
We all know that animal products are an important source of high-quality, balanced, and highly available protein and numerous critical micronutrients, including iron, and vitamins, many of which are deficient in a large portion of the world’s population.
As the country fast approaches the Muslim feast of Tobaski, one critical challenge that poses a nightmare to many parents is the exorbitant price attached to a head of animals and many slaughters during this Muslim feast.
However, many dealers would use as excuse the huge amount of money charged on these small-ruminants, which many claim are imported from neighboring countries such as Senegal, Mali and others.
Experts believe that this part of Africa is a perfect region to breed animals especially our local breed considering the conducive environment and weather to boost livestock production.
This, if sustained, would help the country while reducing the amount of monies spent on importation of livestock into the country.
Government and NGOs should support initiatives and programmes geared towards entrepreneurship development especially the livestock sector in the country.
As global food insecurity amid Covid-19 continues to be a talking point in many fora, now is the time for youths to take up the challenge and make best use of the enabling environment.
Government should support youth to develop initiatives that would help them do away with the Babylon mentality. The resources available in The Gambia are huge. Sitting down and loitering about, would not help them. Instead, they should work towards contributing their quota to national development rather than dreaming about the West.
Looking at the global food shortage, food insecurity currently affects nearly a billion people; including 20 million children, aged 5 years who experience severe malnutrition.
Already, the continent is grappling with severe food security challenges driven by population growth, climate change, land degradation, water scarcity, and socio-economic factors such as poverty and inequality. Climate variability and extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, and heatwaves, are intensifying food insecurity thus resulting in dwindling agricultural productivity, water availability, and livelihoods.