RICE as a staple food in Gambia is mainly imported from Asia (Photo credit: Facts and Details) |
“We must feed
ourselves,” President Yaya Jammeh said of his country, The Gambia, which is
endowed with land and fresh water.
Jammeh has said
his government plans to initiate an all-year round rice production scheme that
could further efforts to attaining food self-sufficiency.
“The
all-year-round rice production would not only ensure that there is enough food
for local consumption, but surplus for export to other countries,” Mr Jammeh
said in the Central River Region according to state media reports.
He is currently on
a tour of the country, a constitutional requirement dubbed
‘meet-the-people-tour’ formerly known as ‘meet-the-farmers-tour’.
Jammeh had since
last year vowed to ban the importation of rice, a staple, into the West African
country. He is touring the country with an idea of a “Vision 2016 Rice
Self-Sufficiency Agenda”.
State TV images
show Mr Jammeh visiting farms lands and rice fields across the regions and
promising to address the concerns raised by local farmers.
“My tour is to
dismantle all the ‘Bantabas’ and ensure that the citizens concentrate on the
farm. Allah gave us two hands so that we can have the strength to work. Feeding
yourself from your sweat is one of the biggest ways of worshiping Allah,” the
pro-government Daily Observer newspaper quoted Jammeh as saying.
Jammeh reiterated
his comments earlier this year, in which he linked “too many sicknesses” in the
country to “eating food we don’t know how they were produced.”
He has also
admitted the need for his government to change its operational modules in the
agriculture sector, according to media reports.
·
This story first appeared on The Voice
newspaper.
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