Creating livelihoods for our women farmer folks through value-addition opportunities
“The avenue to overcoming the challenges of gluts and seasonality in our markets and reducing our dependence on imported food and feeds”
AGROPROCESSING
Agro-processing, a sub-sector of both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, provides exceptional opportunities to addressing the high levels of unemployment and the challenges of food self-sufficiency in The Gambia. To realize the opportunities that lurk in this sub-sector, two primary challenges must be addressed; first, the inadequate generative capacity of energy in the country, including addressing the attendant distributive challenges and second, increasing the productive capacity of both the horticultural and animal husbandry production in the country.
Horticultural production remains sparse and unplanned and for this reason the country continues to depend on the importation of key vegetables and fruits from the sub-region and beyond. Local production levels of basic vegetables, fruits, and grains remain seasonal in nature with the attendant challenge of glut and spoilage during the seasonal peaks of production given the inadequacy or lack of commercial storage facilities and the inability of processing these into semi-finished or finished value added products.
The value addition that could emanate from agro-processing of our horticultural produce can go a long way in generating employment, ensuring food self-sufficiency and at the same time adding to our foreign exchange earnings; which could inextricably help our Balance of Payments position, especially where we are able to meet the export standards of the international market.
Both the ‘savings’ and ‘earnings’ in foreign exchange would help in strengthening the ‘dalasi,’ and with a prudent monetary policy stance would help tackle inflation and overtime generate the much-needed savings for the financing of our economic development aspirations.
As a Political Party, we are convinced that Agro-processing is one of the avenues, in the short to medium term, through which we can begin to change the fortunes of The Gambia.