Edi,
Every butut counts must count in this debate. I do not claim to be an expert
in agriculture either. However I am yet to be convinced how Gambia can
become self-sufficient in food production by relying on rainfed rice and
groundnut.

I guess the point is that self-sufficiency in food cannot come without being
smart about the way we use our meager resources. First, we need to focus on
crops that give the highest yield with minimum input. In this case millet
out performs all other major crops grown in the Gambia even under variable
climate conditions. Secondly you do not need tractors or irrigation (all of
which need hard earn dollars) to grow millet. Animal traction has proven to
very viable and low cost technology in the Gambia. The only spare parts and
fuel you need to sustain that technology are all available in the Gambia
without any extra strain on our foreign exchange. Even when tractor parts
and gas is not big deal, average farm size is too small to make
mechanization viable. As to which crop is more valuable (groundnut or
millet), let's ask the farmer. My feeling is that 3 dalasi per kilo of
groundnut (the amount the farmer is paid this season), cannot be compared to
what the same farmer gets for a kilo of millet.

Regarding Jahally Pacharr and rice growing, I believe that Gambians do not
have to grow rice to eat rice. After all, given our environment, a
combination of persistent droughts and very poor soils the Gambia cannot
produce rice any cheaper than they can buy from South east Asia. Thus the
need to produce crops we can sell high (vegetables) to get enough money to
buy the cheap rice from Thailand. Common sense economics in a global
economy.

Edi, I do recognize that groundnut is indeed the sacred cow for the Gambia
government. Revenue from groundnut export would be missed but I believe not
for long. Surprisingly millet sells well, not only in the Gambia but the
entire West African region. Infact it can be said that the bulk of millet
grown in the Gambia is not consumed in the Gambia but sold at loomos. I have
first hand knowledge of some of the millet bought by vendors (many of whom
Senegalese) end up as far as Chad and Niger. The reality is the market
exist. What is missing is some framework to generate revenue for both the
farmer and the government. I government should promote more value-added
processing and marketing of millet to help the farmers find alternatives to
the Loomo vendors. Also device smart ways to tax proceeds from millet.

I hope this clarifies some issues.

Malanding

 -----Original Message-----
From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Edi Sidibeh
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 9:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: The way out of poor performance

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