Mr. Faal’s visit to the rice fields was to assess rice production. He also visited a rice mill, which was in a state of total disregard by those concerned. The rice farms were also forested and unplanted.
“Today is a very sad day for me and our campaigners. It is very sad because we are here at the Kuntaur, which reminds us some of the terrible malaises that happens in this country.”
Here is a multi-million-dollar rice mill that was used to produce Gambia rice during the Jawara days. This mill is met in a terrible state of disrepair, as it is reminiscence of the malaise in the rice industry in this country,” he said.
“Most of our rice produced in the fields are being neglected. I do understand that authorities have never been here in the last 5 years. Here at Kuntaur, like you have in Nianija and in Jahalli Pachar, McCarthy, you have thousands of hectares of rice fields that have been neglected.”
“I have had the honour of visiting Jahalli Pacharr, McCarthy and the rice fields in Kuntaur and my heart bleeds. My heart bleeds for the simple fact that this place or these places that I have just named could have been the basket that will produce Gambia’s staple food, rice,” Mr. Faal said sorrowfully.
“Unfortunately, we have neglected them to the extent that many of these places are turning to become forest. Instead, we chose to buy low-grade rice from Asia. To me, this is one of the worst policies any government could ever have.”
“We have the God-given possibility of producing our own high-quality rice. Instead, we chose to neglect that and import low-grade rice from Asia,” he charged.
He said these farming villages along the river have been neglected and forgotten over a long time, and as a result, it has led to its abandonment by the youths to seek greener pastures in the Kombos. He continued that it is because of such that many are venturing in the perilous ‘backway’ through the desert for Barca (Barcelona) or Barzaq (the next world).
He said that Senegal is producing rice, even though imports rice, “but at a much more medium scale, which the Gambia has the capacity to do.”
He said the rice we make here are much better for diabetes and that the rice we import is not the rice that is served in the West or Cambodia or Vietnam.
“Gambia, we import much more rice than we produce, leading to a significant loss of foreign exchange, because we have to pay in foreign currency to import rice that we bring into our country.”
I think this is bad policy. This is sinking the nation. We must change. I promise that if we are elected into office, we will resuscitate all these rice fields that we are allowing to become fallow and turn into forest, with the view to significantly reducing our rice importation, and ultimately in the long term, to stop the importation of rice and possibly export rice to other countries”
He added that this would boost employability among the young, and thus prevent the dangerous ‘backway’ to Europe.
“In a government led by Essa Mbye Faal, be rest assured, my fellow Gambian sisters and brothers, that we would do everything possible to resuscitate these rice fields and put in place state-of-the-art mills to produce Gambia rice and restore the dignity of the people who live along the side of the river that produce the rice we should be eating in this country.”
“It would not only resuscitate, it would not only bring new life to these villages, but it would also return the confidence and smile of the people who live along the river, and indeed, the Gambian people. We don’t produce anything, but we can produce our own rice.”
