The Country Director of ActionAid The Gambia, Dr. Kujejatou Manneh-Jallow, has said that an expert report has indicated that by September/October the price of a bag of rice, a staple food in The Gambia, will reach D1, 250. Dr. Manneh-Jallow made this revelation at a one-day consultative forum on National Food Security Situation and Response Strategies held at the Paradise Suites Hotel recently.

According to her, the issue has implication for majority of the citizens, especially for those receiving a minimum monthly income of D650 which, according to her, could hardly earn a bag of rice. She added that this is not taking into account the large number of non-wage earners.

Dr. Manneh-Jallow recollected that in the 1960s developing countries had an overall agricultural surplus of about US$ 7 billion but by the 1970s the surplus shrunk to $1 billion. By the end of the 1980s, she added, the surplus disappeared altogether, culminating in increased food imports from the 1990s to date.

She further observed that the capacity of most developing countries to produce their own food has been severely constrained by unfavourable policies both at national and international levels.

According to her, the liberalisation of agriculture through Structural Adjustment Programmes, free trade agreements and the World Trade Organisation eroded border protection through import tariff which, she noted, is needed to develop local agriculture.

As a result, she said, opening of borders together with huge subsidies in rich countries paved the way for cheap imports, thus undermining local agriculture and related sectors.

Super petrol has jumped from 30 to 33 Dalasi per litre, gas oil from 28 to 32 and kerosene has risen from 21 to 26 Dalasi. This increase in the price of fuel is just the latest in what is starting to feel like a litany of price hikes in recent times. Since we last wrote in these pages about the pressure the increase in the price of rice is putting on families that commodity has continued to spiral and a bag is now costing D850.

Along with this, the price of gas has jumped to D650 for a large canister and all of this while wages have remained static.

As it stands people are struggling to make ends meet. Some families are living hand to mouth day by day and in danger of malnutrition so in the coming months they will edge closer and closer to starvation. In the wider economic sense we can expect to see peoples disposable income drying up and this will effect those who trade and sell. This will in turn affect the families of traders and very quickly we can expect to see the entire economy constricting.

At what point can we expect intervention? If we continue on the path we are on without taking action then people will starve. Hungry people do irrational things so must do everything we can to avoid the kind of rioting we saw in Senegal and other African nations in the past few months. The increase in the cost of fuel will feed heavily into our current economic misery. Those who drive taxis may soon have to increase the price of fares to make ends meet. If this happens then transport might be beyond the economic means of some. If large numbers of people cannot afford to travel it will greatly reduce the income of taxi drivers and feed into the cycle of economic depression. 

There is no quick fix solution to this problem. We are of course at the mercy of the international markets and so many of the issues we face are beyond our control. The crisis relating to rice is affecting the whole world. We can however take action here in The Gambia. The government must immediately, possibly through area councils or come other data gathering agency, establish exactly how great the poverty people are experiencing is. Once we are fully aware of the scale of the problem we face we can go about tackling it in an effective manner.

How we would tackle the problem will depend on the scale and nature of the problem but if it is serious enough then maybe the government might have to implement a public feeding programme of some kind. If it serious enough then emergency aid from abroad may have to be sought. Whatever needs to be done must be done to stop our people going hungry. We can take whatever action is necessary but only when we are aware of the scale of the problem.

Action is essential because as one Senegalese national told the BBC in the aftermath of the rioting, “we can endure almost most anything but hunger. How can we be happy when we are hungry?”       

Forex Bureau Rates:

M J Finance 9965635

Selling

GBP  =                 D39.00

US    =                 D19.00

5000CFA =           D235.00

EURO =               D31.00

Swedish Kroner=  D310

Danish Kroner=    D370

Buying

GBP   =               D41.00

 US     =              D21.50

5000CFA             D 250.00

EURO                 D33.00

Kroner =              D340.00

Danish Kroner=    D425.00

Money is having less and less value these days, given inflation and the escalating price of commodities, particularly basic commodities like oil, rice, sugar, potatoes and meat. Where does this leave the pensioner, the retired public servant and their family?

While the market requires, on average, D200 per day per family (D6,000 per month), the pensioner receives only 20%-25% of that outlay. But, the pensioner like everyone else has a presumed obligation to feed his or her family.

For this they cannot depend on alms or on others, especially if they have been a major post holder in government in the past. The pensioner cannot go around begging as many still expect the pensioner to be giving. Yet, begging is what many pensioners are almost driven to.

If they are fortunate enough to own a compound then there are compound rates to settle. There are also NAWEC bills to pay. These costs must be added to the spiraling price of rice and other commodities. How should the pensioner cope with all this?

If full-time workers can hardly make their earnings stretch to the end of the month then how far will a pension stretch?

In short, there is a lot of suffering among the ranks of the retired men and women who dedicated their lives to the service of the country and this suffering is being borne silently, in quiet dignity and resignation. For pensioners there is little or no hope for a better life until the earth receives them.

The government should not be apathetic to their suffering. Government should weigh the situation and show pity.

In neighbouring countries, governments give retirement packages that are quite handsome. One can acquire a good gratuity plus a good home for the family. On top of this one receives a reasonable pension on which to survive and continue taking care of the family. The government of The Gambia should emulate this.

President Jammeh has emphasised the importance of food self-sufficiency in the face of global food crisis and the imminent surge in the price of rice, the staple food of the country.

The president made this statement at the Farafenni Primary School ground, North Bank Region, where party supporters had gathered to celebrate victories in the presidential, National Assembly and local government elections; a party that was punctuated with jollity. The president presided over the event, alongside members of his entourage in the ongoing ‘Dialogue with the People Tour’.

But, to the President, the merry-making meant more than a victory celebration. To him, it was a celebration of the “unprecedented successes” and the fulfillment of the promises  many had disputed in the beginning as false. He cited the Kerewan-Laminkoto Road Project, the AFPRC General Hospital and the Rural Electrification Project as part of the fulfilled promises.

The president expressed his intention to transform Farafenni into a city. However, he noted that this would need the support of everybody to achieve that.

Reiterating his back to the land call, the president called for attitudinal change among Gambians in order to achieve food self-sufficiency. Further buttressing on this clarion call, the president talked about the current global food crises and the increasing cost of rice.

He observed that “if we had gone back to the land over the years and did not depend on imported food, the rice issue would not have been what it is today. All this major diseases are due to what we eat and we don’t know where they come from. Let’s eat what we produce,” he emphasised, while thanking the people of the area for massively voting for the APRC in the elections.

The president told the gathering that he would never make false promises after swearing to Allah, the Almighty. “I am not here to disappoint you. I will never disappoint The Gambia”, the president told cheering supporters.

According to President Jammeh, his good intentions can be attested to by his sponsorship of Gambian students and pilgrims, as well as the provision of medical and educational services to all Gambians. He then saluted Gambian women for their contribution and urged the men folk to emulate them.

For his part, Yankuba Touray, the secretary of state for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, saluted supporters for voting for APRC party in the last elections and acknowledged the good work of the former chief, Mr Sambujang Jagne, in the party. SoS Touray hinted supporters about plans to build a regional office to be headed by Mr Jagne.

Commenting on the major developments experienced under the second republic, Mr Touray said the new 500 tractors for farmers were not for free, since the previous consignment were mismanaged.

On his fisheries sector, the eloquent secretary of state articulated that all vessels on The Gambia’s territorial waters would be licensed to regularise fishing activities and ensure that more Gambians got engaged in the sector.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Saikou Foday Jammeh, the chief of Upper Baddibu, Aja Isatou Jallow, a women mobiliser and Mustapha Dibba, a youth leader.

President Jammeh also visited several major agricultural and health development projects in North Bank Region, as part of the itinerary of the tour.

The projects visited were the Chamen Agricultural Training Centre in Chamen, the Farafenni Community Based Doctors Centre, and the Ngayen Sanjal major health centre.

At the Chamen Agricultural Training Center, President Jammeh was led on a tour of the facility by senior officials and was briefed on the three components of the projec - animal husbandry, vegetable production and crop production.

According to the officials, the centre was created to train youths on animal husbandry and poultry production in order to enable them engage in gainful-employment.

Mamodou M Susso, a livestock assistant, told the president that trainees in animal husbandry, were taught on the treatment, feeding, watering, housing, equipment, disease prevention and detection. Mr Suso highlighted the invaluable support they had received from the FAO in reviving the center last year.

At the horticulture garden, the Gambian leader was escorted to the fields and was informed that over 1,186 trainees had undergone a training in the center over the past years. The president also visited the poultry yard where 42 layer chickens were being reared.

In his reaction, President Jammeh advised the officials on the planting of fruit trees. He urged people to desist from unending workshops and to concentrate on implementation and field practicals. He also urged NARI to keep the original Gambian vegetable varieties, saying “I do not believe in Western theories about agriculture. Let us preserve our indigenous varieties. Unless we change our concepts in agriculture, it will be difficult to eradicate poverty”.

President Jammeh also urged poultry production experts to include Gambian youth in the  production exercise.

At the Farafenni Community Based Doctors Center, the Gambian leader was informed that the training of the present batch of 12 people had started in March this year.

Dr Albaro Garcia Francika, a lecturer and the head of the Cuban Team, said the training would last for six years and that the present batch of students are pre-medical doctors pursuing courses in biology and chemistry.

Dr Malick Njie, the secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare, described the project as laudable, noting that with such community doctor training initiative, The Gambia would be sure to have enough qualified doctors in the next five years. He said the programmes were the same with what could be found at the School of Medicine in Banjul.

At the Ngayen Sanjal Major Health Center, President Jammeh visited all the wards, offices, and stores. He expressed disappointment with the state of the health centre, saying its condition was unacceptable.

He complained of the negligence in the upkeep of the structures and called on the relevant authorities to act immediately.

We are approaching crisis point with regard to the price of rice. At the moment one bag is  costing between D685 to D750 if you are in Banjul. This in itself is a very serious situation for those on low or no income but what of those people living outside of the Greater Banjul Area? The cost of transport, on top of the rapidly rising price of rice, means that the farther one goes from Banjul the more expensive the price of a bag of rice gets. These prices are simply beyond the means of many people. Rice is a vital part of our Gambian diet and if we lose out on this nutrition because of cost there must be somebody who is held accountable. We write regularly in these pages about the issue of development. We speak of a healthcare system which is improving and of the increasing access to education for both boys and girls. While these are very important issues and must never be overlooked, a government’s first responsibility is to ensure that the population that elected them is not starving. As things stand at the moment many people struggle so much with price of food that there are many among us who are suffering from malnutrition. If something is not done to address the cost of food and rice in particular, these people may soon starve.

With large extended families, a bag of rice is expected to feed many mouths. Unfortunately in many cases the costs are now too high for a sufficient supply to be purchased. In many cases this will mean that the youngest, or those not needing all their strength for work, will end up having less to eat. This will affect children attending school through their inability to concentrate or work diligently on their studies and leave others weakened and more susceptible to disease.

Admittedly this is not simply an issue for The Gambia alone. The World Bank has said that food prices internationally have risen by 83% in the last three years. There have been food riots in Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Senegal and Haiti. In Haiti recently the violence led to a number of deaths. We must act to prevent anything of this kind happening in The Gambia. The government must find a way to subsidise the price of rice to ensure that people can afford to feed themselves. The Government must also however put in place a long-term plan to tackle this problem in the coming years as rice will only get more expensive. Restrictions on rice exports have been put in place by major producer countries such as India, China, Vietnam and Egypt because they themselves are struggling to feed their populations. As this is the case, we can only expect the price to climb higher and higher in the coming months. This is why the long-term solution is essential. Parents will stop at nothing to protect and feed their children so we must not let people get to a situation where they are that desperate. Urgent action is needed from the government so that we can avoid the terrible scenes we have witnessed in other nations as a result of food shortages. Time is against us so the action must be both swift and ultra-effective.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Henry David Thoreau

Reports monitored from GRTS Television on Tuesday evening indicate that the President of The Gambia and Secretary of State for Mineral Resources, Mr Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, has given a 24-hour ultimatum to Carnegie Minerals Gambia Limited to come clean on their activities in the country, failure of which they risk losing their licence to operate in the country, not to speak of legal actions to follow.

A press release read on GRTS said that Carnegie Mineral might be exporting minerals from The Gambia, which they are not reporting accordingly. As a result of this, the release added, Carnegie Minerals Gambia Limited is being asked to tell the Gambian public the truth about what they are actually mining, the quantity of minerals from the Gambia and what the actual international price of tonnage exported are. Original laboratory results of analysis of the type of minerals accepted and exported are also requested, the release concluded.

Carnegie Minerals Gambia Limited is a mining company in the country located in the village of Sanyang in Kombo South.