Farmers Still Owed Thousands of Dalasis

The Daily Observer (Banjul)
NEWS
October 21, 2002
Posted to the web October 21, 2002
Banjul

Reports reaching the Daily Observer indicate that Gambian farmers are still
owed thousands of Dalasis as outstanding balance for the purchase of their
groundnuts. The farmers hardest hit are those in the Upper River Division.

This was disclosed during the joint Government of The Gambia and the
International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Country Opportunities
Strategy Paper (COSOP) review workshop held at the Senegambia Beach Hotel
last week.

Musa Jawneh, president of the National Farmers' Platform said that his
office was informed that a total debt of about 100 tones of groundnuts fee
was still owed to farmers.

"It is a very sympathetic situation for those farmers who are affected
because it is almost a year now and they (farmers) are yet to receive their
monies. Farmers should really be encouraged rather than discouraged because
they are the backbone of the country's economy and main foreign exchange
earner," he said.

Mama Manneh of Gamcot expressed disappointment in the manner which
groundnut producers been treated in this country by the concerned
authorities.

He said statistics have shown that groundnut producers were the poorest
category of farmers in the country instead of being the richest.

He said: "Non farmers are saying everything is okay with the farmers while
everything is wrong with them especially in Upper River Division where
every Tom, Dick and Harry is a groundnut buyer.

"These so-called groundnut traders would come and take groundnut from the
farmers with the promise that they would give them their monies within a
short period.

"Farmers are really suffering in the hands of such bad middlemen. These
type of buyers don't have mercy on innocent farmers." He appealed to the
authorities to look into the welfare of farmers in the future especially
the the groundnut producers so that they would produce more groundnut and
other crops.

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