By: Nyima Sillah
Scores of farmers have called on the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC) to control the sale and distribution of fertilizers in the country.
The farmers bemoaned the difficulty in accessingfertilizer as most groundnut buying points did not have in-stock fertilizers.
A farmer in the CRR North Bai Bili Jallow said the GGC should be in control of the sale and distribution of fertilizers so that farmers can directly buy from them rather than distributing it to other businessmen “whodon’t have the interest of farmers at heart”.
“GGC should reconsider the current arrangement when it comes to the sale and distribution of fertilizers as some of the businesses selling fertilizers do as they wish. Every day, over three to four trucks are loaded with fertilizer but if you request from the Seccos and depots, they would say it is not available. This not helping the farmers,” he lamented.
Papa Jeng of North Bank Region told this medium: “We wonder about the whereabouts of the trucks loaded with fertilizers that we see daily. Even if you need five bags, you cannot have it. The issue is not only about GGC but the President and the agricultureminister should know what the farmers needfertilizers.”
Tresor Women Warriors President, Aji Kumba Daffehexplained that her experience and the struggles to get fertilizer have galvanized her into becoming an agent just to make fertilizer accessible to the small-scale farmers in the remote areas.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and GGC should intervene in this matter. Some areas will have fertilizer while others won’t. The businessmen cannot have fertilizer and be doing what they want. Who knows, if such continues to happen, they might even increase the price,” she stated.
Farmer Nguda Joof of Kaur lamented that farmers “are used as political tools”.
“The reason for the subsidization of fertilizer by the government is to support the farmers and not for commercial consideration. If the government says itsubsidizes fertilizers for farmers and yet onlybusinessmen are benefiting, then that is propaganda.They just distribute the fertilizer in our name but we don’t own it as it is used for commercial purposes,” he bemoaned.
Master Farmers’ Cooperative Association secretary-general Amadou Bah recalled that the GGC gavefertilizers to the seccos and depots the previous year.
“This made the sale and distribution of fertilizer stress-free for farmers and after harvest, they sold their groundnuts to GGC,” he recollected.
“The shift they made this year, giving fertilizers to businessmen, is not favorable to farmers as they are still struggling to access fertilizer,” Bah said.
