The effects of government policies on cereal consumption pattern change in the Gambia

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of agricultural policies in the Gambia since independence from Great Britain in 1965. Under the two governments that have ruled the country since then, the People's Progressive Party (PPP) led by Dawda Jawara (1965–1994) and the Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) led by Yahya Jammeh, the country has shown little to no growth in agricultural productivity. Moreover, recent policy changes, beginning in the 1980s, resulted in marked shifts in cereal consumption patterns. Rice, which has been the staple food for the past century, but is mainly imported, has been surpassed by locally grown millet as the most heavily consumed cereal in the country as a whole. However, this change is unlikely to lead to future food security as long as the failure to implement long-term agricultural development strategies by the current APRC regime continues.

Keywords:

• Gambia
• agriculture
• policy
• cereal consumption

Notes

The GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity in 2009 was US$1415 (World Bank 2010). This GDP per capita figure is in current prices.

Conversion factor of groundnuts with shell into shelled groundnut is 0.70 (FAO 2009).

In the irrigated rice field in Mali under Office du Niger, average rice yield in 2008 was approximately 5 MT/ha (Gajigo and Denning 2010).

The Gambia has six main administrative regions (formerly known as divisions): Kombo St Mary, Western Region, North Bank Region, Lower River Region, Central River Region and Upper River Region. Banjul, the capital, is administered separately by its city council. Central River Region is located in the middle of the country.

‘Strange farmers’ are seasonal agricultural migrants who travel to groundnut producing areas to practise sharecropping (Jarrett 1945, Swindell 1980).

GPMB, which was created in 1973, was preceded by the Gambia Oilseeds Marketing Board (GOMB).

Most of the fertiliser and seeds provided by the government to farmers are not purchased directly at world market prices. Japan has been a major source of subsidised fertiliser.

The GPMB was a continuation of both the GCU and the Gambia Oilseed Marketing Board (GOMB).

Some other key privatisations not directly connected with the agricultural sector were the Gambia National Insurance Corporation (GNIC) and National Trading Corporation (NTC) (Sallah 1990).

It is important to note that while the average national consumption of rice has fallen significantly, this fall is more pronounced for rural rather than urban households.

Another factor that has adversely affected the country's foreign exchange reserve (and contributed to the difficulty in importing rice) is the shock to the tourism industry caused by the 1994 military coup. Due to travel advice from the UK and other European countries (Sharpley et al. 1996), the number of visiting tourists fell sharply. Tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner for the Gambian economy after groundnut exports.

Since assuming office, President Jammeh has arbitrarily hired and fired over 10 secretaries/ministers of agriculture as well as numerous permanent secretaries. Over the past five years, the uncertainties over this important ministry have mounted as Jammeh himself has added this ministry to the State House's portfolio (Sarr and Sillah 2006).