In an interview with the Minister of Agriculture in his Banjul office, Dr. Demba Sabally explained that his ministry’s focus is increasing productivity while trade with the rest of the continent is the responsibility of the trade ministry.
He added that his ministry is working on vegetable gardens and the ministry’s roots project has already rehabilitated six previously started gardens by the NEMA project, saying they would build 30 other new gardens.
“The GIRAV project will build 40 new vegetable gardens, 20 youth-led and 20 women-led. The gardens will be equipped with high capacity pumping and irrigation system and storage for their product to last longer. We are also building 15 cold storage facilities nationwide and we will create a market for our vegetable gardeners.”
Minister Sabally continued that the government under the Ministry of Agriculture is also building multimillion dalasi agrology centres in Farrafenni and Wassu that would enable the farmers to bring their products to the centres, saying it would have a bank, market and a cold store.
The minister further explained that The Gambia is part of a lot of international protocols and also part of a lot of trade agreements and trade deals while stating that the market would be competitive soon.
“Very soon the market will be competitive and products will come to the country from every part of the continent duty-free and Gambia can also export. That’s why part of the goal is to develop our agro-business into a department that will train our people on value addition.”
He emphasised that the new department would be working with the Ministry of Trade to train the country’s young and women on value addition preparation for the markets.
The AfCFTA emphasises the reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and the facilitation of the free movement of people and labour, right of residence, right of establishment, and investment.
Read Other Articles In Headlines
