In a ceremony held at the cooperation's headquarters in Banjul on Saturday 20 January 2024, the Managing Director, Muhammad Njie, assured the farmers of his office's continued support.
"Effective today, the Gambia Government has settled all the outstanding balance it owes farmers, which is historic,” MD said.
He assured the farmers that the cooperation would continue to support them 100 percent and further revealed that the office had expended D1 billion in the purchase of nuts in two months.
MD Njie also commended the Gambia president for his commitment and willingness to supporting the farming community.
"President Barrow is ever committed to the plight of farmers and his administration has invested a lot of capital to help grow the farming sector," he said.
He added that the introduction of a smart farming initiative was a clear manifestation that the government was committed to addressing challenges faced by farmers, stating that the president had also made available the best fertiliser for farmers.
Alagie Ceesay, the vice president of the farmers union, commented: "GGC has done extremely well under the leadership of MD Muhammad Njie; so I want to urge them (GGC) to continue the good work," he said.
Amat Sarr, a sector president in NBR, said the amount of money expanded within 6 weeks to purchase nuts was “unprecedented” in the history of the country.
"We should all appreciate and commend MD Njie and his team for a job well done," he said, adding that they were moving mountains to make it happen for the farmers.
Chief Yahya Jarjusey, a board member of the GGC, said that buying on credit had happened before during the first and second republics but people were not making the decibel levels of noise they were making now.
He further said that they faced a lot challenges as leaders, hence they need to have patience to succeed in their work. “The GGC is doing everything to minimise credit buying,” Chief Jarjusey said.
