Many farmers across the country are disillusioned about this year’s trade season. They are not sure whether they will in fact have a trade season at all.
This reporter, who recently travelled across the length and breadth of the country, spoke to some groundnut producing farmers who expressed despair regarding the purchase of their produce. The farmers explained that despite producing lots of nuts this year, there appears no sign that their nuts will be bought in the country.
The reporter observed that middlemen from Senegal are busy purchasing nuts from Gambian farmers at prices as low as 400 dalasi per bag. This is less than the price offered by Gambian buyers last year.

Farmers say Seccos (groundnut buying points) in Senegal have already commenced purchasing nuts, while those in the Gambia have not shown any sign of starting operations. Some farmers complained of pest infestation as well as the lack of pesticides to contain it. They lamented that if they do not sell to middlemen, their nuts are likely to rot and be destroyed by pests.
Farmers in both the north and south banks of the Gambia are busy selling their nuts to cross border buyers because, as they said, they are desperately in need of cash for the ‘Tobaski’ feast in order to buy things and gifts for themselves and their families.
The women farmers, in particular, are also busy decorticating their nuts to sell at the weekly ‘Lumo’ markets near the border areas. They argued that this fetches more for them and is better than waiting for pests to destroy their hard toiled produce. They also said that decorticated nuts earn them more cash than the undecorticated ones.
Many farmers also complained that middlemen in the Gambia as a matter of fact offer them a lesser price than their Senegalese counterparts. They added that some of these agents have made it a condition to take their nuts away to sell at the established buying points and to refund them later. According to them, some of the farmers who have given their produce to agents on this basis have not yet received their monies from such middlemen.
As it stands now, the groundnut trade is in total limbo and farmers are not waiting for any would- be buyers because of the genuine fear that they may become the eventual losers and victims of the prevailing situation.


Rice growers in Fulladu, Central River Region, including both women and men, have vowed to ensure self-sufficiency in rice production for the whole of their region and beyond if adequate and affordable fertilizer and farm implements are made available to them and on time.
The rice growers made these assertions on Monday, 23rd November 2009, during a visit to the Region by this reporter.