3. AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, WILDLIFE AND AQUACULTURE
3.1 Crop production, livestock, fishing and forestry contribute about 30% of
GDP. The value of imports is estimated at D6.3 billion, 70.4 % of which are
classified as imports for domestic consumption of which food products
constituted the top of the list
Gambia imports rice and other food items that can be produced locally.
Food self sufficiency and safety are the pillars of economic emancipation
and sustainable development.
Suffice it to say, 70% of the labour force depend on crop financing for
income generation.
Many projects have been launched to promote self sufficiency in food
production and the production of crops and livestock for marketing, such as the
quality seed production project, the rural finance project, peri urban small
horticulture and livestock development project, peri urban small holder
improvement project, special programme for food security, livestock development
project, Pan African Control of epizootics, irrigated rice development project,
farmers managed rice irrigation project, participatory irrigated watershed
management project, low land agricultural development project. The implementation
of all these projects has not given rise to food security.
In 2004 the overall development expenditure for agriculture amounted to 175
million dalasis. The sum stood at 179 million in 2005. Despite this huge
investment into agriculture, development in this sector is impaired by the lack
of reliance on reliable statistics to identify the problems and determine what
is required to address them. Government statistics would reveal remarkable
increases in crop cultivated area, yield and production levels from year to
year without recording any proportional reduction in poverty ratio. In short,
the overall cultivated area for cereals is reported to have increased from
172,390 hectares in 2003/2004 to 192,312 hectares in 2004/2005 representing an
increase from 215, 046 metric tonnes to 225,008 metric tonnes with early
millet contributing 48 per cent. Paddy rice is also reported to have registered a
growth of 10% from 31,221 metric tonnes in 2003/04 to 34,304 metric tonnes in
2004/2005. Groundnut is said to have recorded an increase of 46 percent with
gross production rising from 92,937 metric tonnes in 2003/2004 to 135,698 in
2004/2005 cropping season. However, our export of groundnuts was plagued by
inadequate marketing arrangements and earnings valued at $811.3 millions
reflected a decline of 33 percent.
NADD recognises that The Gambia has potential for increasing crop production
to over 800,000 metric tonnes, which is four times the current level of
production. It also has the potential to increase its earnings from the sale of
crops. The potential for livestock and fish production is also considerable.
NADD observes that despite huge influx of investments in production, Gambian
agriculture is still plagued with problems at the production and marketing
levels which require urgent attention if we are to create a self reliant
agricultural base that will guarantee food security, and affordability to ensure
access to appropriate nutrition by the population.
NADD therefore undertakes to put in place programmes that will ensure
availability and affordability of food to guarantee food security as well as to put
an end to inadequate marketing arrangements that have undermined rural
income and increased rural poverty.
The programme shall consist of:
Pooling of resources from the Assets Management and Recovery Corporation and
other sources of investment capital to create an Agricultural Financial
Facility or Agricultural Development Fund to finance production and marketing of
produce in the area of agriculture, livestock and fishing.
Formulation of an integrated agricultural, livestock and fishing development
programme to ensure food security, affordability, availability as well as
enhance the income earnings of stakeholders in the sector.
Building the capacity of the Departments of Fisheries, Livestock and
Agricultural Services to become the architects of the comprehensive and integrated
agricultural, fisheries, and livestock development programmes.
This development programme shall include
modalities for the operation of a financial facility for the sectors;
Strategies on the development of appropriate methods and inputs such as
donkey, horse and ox drawn implements as a start;
Develop seed multiplication schemes and banks for crop and semen banks for
life stock;
Development of preservation methods for various food items;
Give priority to adequate production of grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables,
poultry, fish and livestock, including small ruminants for local consumption to
improve nutrition and for export.
4. ENERGY
40% of the population of the country live in the urban area and 60% in the
rural area. The provision of energy to preserve agricultural produce and to
run small scale and large enterprises is indispensable to sustained economic
activity. Herein lies the importance of exploration, production, conversion,
storage, transportation, distribution and use of energy in an efficient manner.
The APRC government has made countless promises to provide efficient,
affordable and reliable energy services to the population.
Huge investments have gone into the energy sector. The rural electrification
project costs $18 million dollars. NAWEC has taken over the power stations
based in Barra-Essau, Kerewan, Farafeni, Kaur, Bansang and Basse. A 28
megawatt power plant is destined for Brikama because of the agreement with Global
Trading Group for the implementation of an independent power project. NAWEC has
a full generating capacity of 27 Megawatts and has rehabilitated its
transmission lines with a 500 million dalasi loan from the Import/Export Bank of
Taiwan. In the same vein, the President announced the discovery of oil in 2004.
Since then the people are simply told that the Gambia National Petroleum
Company is making efforts to attract international investors to come and invest
in the Gambia’s upstream hydrocarbon resources; that such exploration for oil
and gas depends on the hydrocarbon material, geological risk, fiscal and
legal terms as well as political stability. Hence the state of exploration for
oil and gas in the Gambia is at most uncertain.
NADD strongly holds that no modern society with a developed infrastructure
that can attract investment can be built without reliable energy. It maintains
that accessibility and affordability of energy are key factors in fighting
poverty and ensuring development.
It observes that Gambians depend on fuel wood, charcoal, gas and electricity
as sources of energy; that the felling of trees and their burning for
charcoal has led to deforestation and is threatening the very source of energy that
homes rely on for cooking; that gas and electricity are beyond the reach of
the vast majority of Gambians.
NADD therefore maintains that energy is becoming increasingly inaccessible,
unreliable and unaffordable to the many. A few depend on individual
generation sets which are expensive to maintain and pose high pollution risks to
individual households.
NADD maintains that the Gambia has immense potential to address its energy
problems. The ECOWAS sub region has large potential for collaboration on the
use of hydroelectric power. The ECOWAS energy protocol which can facilitate
such collaboration has already been ratified by many countries.
It shall map out the nature, quality and sources of energy in the country
within six months of a NADD administration with a view to establishing concrete
plans on how to maintain or develop each area to make energy more
accessible, reliable and affordable either through our own initiatives or through
collaboration with regional or other partners.
NADD shall give emphasis to the principle of sustainable and environmentally
friendly means of production, conversion, storage, transportation,
distribution and use of energy from diverse sources such as wood, gas, oil, solar
energy and hydroelectric power.
NADD shall make energy more accessible, affordable and reliable in the
Gambia.
5. MINING
Being close to the Futa Jallon highlands, the geological formation of the
Gambia offers many possibilities for mineral exploration. Ore mining began
during the colonial period and ceased without much explanation.
The APRC regime has not injected any strategic thinking in promoting mineral
exploration and development in the country which can indeed be a major
economic activity.
Within 1 year of a NADD administration the government shall establish a
concrete blue print on mineral exploration and development in the Gambia. This
will map out the areas of priorities and the institutional and strategic
framework required to develop the mining sector.
6. PROCESSING/MANUFACTURING
The most significant sector for the production of value added goods is
manufacturing. It serves as a secondary phase of economic activity after raw
material production.
Manufacturing & processing of raw materials enable a country to reduce
imports and generate both income and employment in a country. This sector is
bereft of any strategic thinking by the APRC administration. Even though it claims
that it wishes to transform the country into a middle income country, an
export oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, there is no blue print
for the building of the manufacturing sector.
In 2005 manufacturing was expected to grow by 5%. The growth in small scale
manufacturing is attributed to increased demand for intermediate inputs
provided by welders for construction and so on and so forth.
Contrary to misguided statistics Gambia has a large presence of highly
skilled personnel in welding and fabrication who provide all the intermediate
inputs for construction and other services.
However, this sector is plagued by unreliable and expensive electricity
supply, poor infrastructure, high cost and scarcity of imported raw materials,
erratic pricing policy, high interest rates for commercial borrowing, poor
investment opportunities.
The growth in large scale manufacturing is attributable to increase in
production of soap, plastic, soft drink and foam materials. This area is also
constrained by unreliable and expensive electricity, poor infrastructure,
impoverished internal market and insignificant access to sub regional markets. Over
the years, companies have emerged to engage in bicycle assembling, industrial
sewing shoe making only to disappear as soon as they were established
because of poor investment policy guide lines to ensure sustainability.
Suffice it to say, the Gambia has a potential for establishing sea food
processing industry. The same goes for the processing of meat and milk products,
fruits and vegetables. No strategic thinking has taken place to guide the
development of such a sector.
Within one year of the NADD administration a master plan would have been
drawn to map out the number and nature of each of the small, medium and large
scale manufacturing enterprises and the numerous cottage industries that are
responsible for the production of flour, oil, milk products, soap and so on.
The master plan will indicate the history of the sector, the shortcomings,
its potentials and map out a clear and realistic way forward for its
development.
NADD aims to make processing/manufacturing an important economic activity,
next to agriculture, before the end of its term of five years.
7. TRADE
Fair trade contributes to mutual growth of the productive base of an
economy, generates employment and income and facilitates economic, infrastructural
and social investment.
It is estimated that agricultural subsidies by developed countries amount to
300 billion dollars; that high tariffs and technical barriers to trade in
industrialized countries cost sub Saharan African countries 20 billion dollars
annually in lost exports.
The Gambia is a signatory to many protocols aimed at boosting trade with
neighbouring countries and beyond, for example the ECOWAS Common External Tariff
(CET) is designed to facilitate Intraregional trade. ECOWAS has a market of
over 280 million people. We are also signatories to many protocols aimed at
instituting economic and monetary union.
However, Gambia is yet to be in a position to benefit from an enlarged
market. The vision of transforming the country into a trading nation because of
the production of agricultural and manufactured goods is merely found in the
vision 2020 document.
In actual fact, the exports of the country are decreasing. In 2001 it was
valued at 3.6 billion dalasis while imports stood at 6.3 billion dalasis
leaving the country with a deficit of 2.7 billion dalasis.
The most striking feature of our exports is our total reliance on re-export
as the basis of our trade. In short, in 2005 exports of groundnuts earned the
country 11.3 million dollars or 300 million dalasis. Exports of fish, fish
products and horticultural products earned the country 282 million dalasis in
2005. 2.9 billion dalasis out of the 3.6 billion dalasis derived from exports
came from re-exports. Infact, 29.6 % of the goods imported are destined for
re-export.
Gambia is therefore very vulnerable to border closure or tariff and other
technical barriers to trade.
NADD recognises the need to create a conducive environment for Gambia to
benefit from International and sub regional trade. This programme shall include:
a. The creation of an Agency for trade and investment, that will
do an inventory of all the goods and services produced in the Gambia for
export and those needed by the Gambia for imports. It will maintain a diary of
all the goods and services produced in the sub region in particular and the
continent in general and then determine how to foster sub regional and inter
African trade.
b. The Agency shall also keep an inventory of all the goods and
services that can be imported or exported to countries it has signed
favourable trade agreements with.
c. Formulate a comprehensive programme on how to expand trade
within one year after a NADD administration comes into being.
8. TOURISM
Tourism accounts for 16% of GDP. Tourism is a major foreign exchange earner.
It is ranked 2nd after agriculture in terms of potential for foreign
exchange earnings. It is said to give formal employment to 10,000 people annually
and an informal employment to 20,000 people.
In 2005 the travel trade was estimated to generate an income amounting to
2.2 billion dalasis out of the 1.3 billion dalasis estimated as foreign direct
investment; the bulk of the inflows go to tourism.
The major draw back of the travel trade for the Gambia is the tendency for
the benefits to have a trickling down effect rather than a multiplying effect.
The statistics kept for planning purposes deal mainly with visitors coming
through chartered flights. Those who come by land, sea or through scheduled
flights are not captured in the statistics.
NADD is conscious of the fact that package tours involving chartered flights
constitute the mainstay of the tourism industry. The expenditure by tourists
mostly goes to pay for the air fares and hotel accommodation. Hence the
benefits mainly accrue to them. The ground handlers serve as middle persons. A
trickle goes to the employees, craft market vendors, fruit sellers and tourist
guides.
The major shortcomings of the travel industry is its lack of linkage with
the productive base of the Gambian economy, be it agriculture, livestock or
manufacturing. NADD aims to make tourism have a multiplying effect instead of a
trickling down effect.
Within one year of a NADD administration it will implement the following
programmes:
a. Commission the Tourism Development Authority to do a
comprehensive study on how tourism can be integrated with the production of livestock,
beverages, fruits, vegetables and intermediary construction materials so as
to ensure a multiplying effect for Gambian producers.
b. Embrace responsible tourism which encourages benefits for
investors while they perform their corporate responsibility in giving support to
schools, hospitals and communities as well as spread out the benefits to
contribute to poverty alleviation
c. Spread out the advantages of responsible tourism to encourage
hosts and tourists alike to have mutual respect for each others cultures,
dignity, welfare and happiness.
d. Promote diversification of tourism to include ecotourism,
conference tourism, and cultural tourism.
e. Encourage private/community partnerships to develop tourism in
the rural areas.
f. Provide free training at the hotel school to those who have
the potential to be employees in the tourism sector.
9. LOANS, AID, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND REMITTANCES OF GAMBIANS
Capital inflows from loans constitute a major part of the foreign exchange
inflows into the Gambia. In 2004 inflows from project related loans were
estimated at 177.4 million dalasis. In 2005 it stood at 911.4 million dalasis.
Foreign direct investment stood at 1.5 billion dalasis in 2004 and fell to
1.3 billion dalasis in 2005.
Remittances by Gambians living and working abroad stood at 346.2 million in
2003. It rose to 569.9 million and 886.3 million in 2004 and 2005
respectively.
All these inflows are sources of investment.
NADD shall develop a comprehensive fact sheet on all the areas where inflows
of financial resources are evident and compliment the findings with a
comprehensive investment road map within 1 year of the establishment of a NADD
administration.
10. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
Land, Air and Sea routes are necessary for transportation and communication.
The Gambia is strategically located to serve as a sub regional, continental
and international hub for land, air and sea traffic. Internally, the country
can rely on air, land and sea to travel from one end of the country to the
other. The proximity of Gambia to Senegal makes joint transport and
communication projects feasible and desirable.
In the area of sea, the country needs investments into passenger or cargo
vessels to transport people and goods on the Gambia river. This will require
the building of wharves in many villages situated near the river.
On the development of road infrastructure, Gambia is strategically carved in
West Africa making it possible to have two trunk roads on the North and
South Banks making the country accessible from East to West and from North to or
South. This geographical advantage has never been exploited.
Needless to say, the geographical link between Gambia and Senegal makes it
possible to have Trans Gambia routes from North to South and West to East.
Gambians can travel from West to East within five hours by road when it is
in a good state.
NADD shall therefore make it a priority to identify and build strategic
wharves for the development of river transport within two years of the
establishment of its administration. It will encourage joint public/private investment
in the sector.
In the same vein, NADD shall ensure that within two years of the
establishment of its administration, the two trunk roads from the West to the East,
covering both the North and South Bank, shall be instituted as well as all the
Trans Gambia routes covering North to South across the Gambia.
In partnership with the councils, all roads in towns, villages shall be
resurfaced within three years of a NADD administration.
GAMWORKS shall be transformed into an implementing agency for public works
and charged with the responsibility of maintaining roads. All councils shall
maintain public works sectors to maintain facilities.
The development of international movement of cargo through the ports
authority and the international movement of passengers through the Gambia
International Airlines and the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority shall be instituted.
The most significant contribution to our telecommunication sources is to
ensure universal access to the service at affordable prices. While expanding the
services Gamtel is not considering the issue of sustainability. It is
borrowing to develop infrastructure.
11. SOCIAL AND HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
12. EMPLOYMENT
Currently, 185,000 children are enrolled in our primary or lower basic
schools; 66,000 students are enrolled in our upper basic schools and senior
secondary school enrolment stands at 27,000 students. Within a period of 3 and 10
years most of them would be out to seek employment. High interest rates, heavy
borrowing by the public sector from the commercial banking sector and low
investments in labour intensive enterprises militate against the creation of
significant employment facilities by the local private sector.
Construction appears to be a major employer; its short term nature makes
employment under such sector erratic to say the least. Foreign direct investment
by the external private sector goes mostly to the tourism sector which gives
seasonal employment to 10,000 employees. This figure has been stagnant for
decades. Taking into consideration that 60% of the population are under 24
years; the issue of unemployment and underemployment will reach catastrophic
proportions as the years go by unless maximum effort is made to address the low
level of job creation in the economy. At present 60% of the urban labour
force depend on the informal economy while in the rural areas the bulk of the
labour force depends on agriculture.
Currently, there is no link between the world of school and training and the
world of employment. Knowledge and skills are therefore being acquired
through vocational and skills training centres as well as through the traditional
apprenticeship system but no national plan exists to absorb the trained in the
productive sectors of the economy.
The government’s argument that Gambians abhor skills training is a farce.
Tens of thousands of Gambians have received training from skills and the
apprenticeship systems. What they need is the creation of the conducive environment
for employment creation.
NADD shall put an end to the inadequate statistics regarding the nature of
the labour force in the Gambia, the state of unemployment and underemployment
and the lack of a comprehensive plan to match skilled personnel with jobs in
the labour market by instituting the following programmes within one year of
its administration:
It shall commission the Personnel Management Office to keep records of all
persons who have completed their grade 12 course and their employment status.
This office shall also keep track of all jobs created in the public sector.
It shall commission the labour department to keep records of all other
persons in the labour force who are not in the records of the personnel management
office.
It shall commission the Gambia Chamber of Commerce to maintain a record of
all jobs created by the private sector on a periodic basis and shall liaise
with the labour departments to match personnel with position.
Ensure that, at all times, jobs are created by public sector establishment
through an efficient management of resources to create dividends for more
investment and growth.
Ensure less borrowing from commercial banks thus reducing public demand in
favour of private sector borrowing at reduced interest rates.
Ensure a conducive environment for investment of remittances by Gambians
living or working abroad and for greater inflow of foreign assistance and
foreign direct investment to generate employment.
Encourage more public/private partnership and private/community partnership
in running enterprises that generate employment.
Ensure the development of a comprehensive study on micro credit schemes to
determine their viability in promoting sustainable incomes and livelihoods of
the low income earners and help pioneer a policy on how the informal sector
can help income generation.
Promote informal sector, livestock, horticultural and handicraft production
and link them to cottage industries to produce oil, milk, flour, fish products
and handicrafts for internal consumption as well as for exports. This is
likely to promote income generation.
10. Expand weekly markets in the rural areas by giving them more
infrastructural support and ensuring qualitative and quantitative growth of
the products traded.
11. Work towards the adoption of a minimum wage that is both
realistic and conducive for the acquisition of the basic necessities of life.
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