Saiks,

I do not see any humour in what the SOS for agriculture said about the credit buying of groundnuts this year. In my opinion he has been very frank about the whole issue. Whatever the case is, the fact remains that groundnut production is increasing, prices are increasing and the marketing of them is improving significantly. There are other vital points also as outlined in my response to Dampha.

As for the production of rice within the country, one can only plan and implement. Fact of the matter is that we are reclaiming more land that was lost to salinity during the past decades and the production of rice is also increasing. However, you have to realise that Rome was not built in a day. For years, nothing had been done to control our growing population while neglecting the production of rice and other essential food crops.

On the issue of the electrification of 98 % of the country, whether this is achieved now or in the next 5 to 10 years is irrelevant as far as I am concerned. The development of The Gambia's energy sector is no small task. What is important here is that at least the government acknowledges that there significant problems that needs to be tackled and they are doing just that. It may take some time, can be frustrating, but surely Gambians know that this is not something new and can cope with it very well. After all, haven't we been coping with this problem for decades already?

Have a good day, Gassa.