NAMs call for control of food products

As the National Assembly opens its third annual meeting, parliamentarians have raised concerns over the long standing phenomenon of uncontrolled marketing of farmers products. They also stressed the need for farmers to be sensitised more to make being aware of the importance of preserving some of their products for domestic consumption.

In the wake of the alarming food crisis, they argued, farmers need not sell all the food products they harvested.

The NAMs comments came following a call made by the Basse parliamentarian, honourable Sellu Bah, for the National Assembly to act in order to remedy the situation. “If we don’t do something about it and allow our farmers to be only concerned with money at the moment, we might end up running into serious troubles,” the Basse NAM stressed.

In a similar development, Honourable Mama Kandeh, the Jimara parliamentarian, agreed that sensitising farmers on how to market their products is a necessity, she urged farmers not to sell all their products harvested, in the local market.
 
Adding his voice to the chorus, Hon. Sheriff Abba Sanyang, the National Assembly member for Foni Kansala, stressed the need for Gambians to participate actively in assisting governmental efforts to attain food security.

He further stated that despite the promising bumper harvest for this year, the expected benefits might not be realised.” If a farmer is faced with the option of paying the school fees of his child and opt for selling all the products harvested, where will we end up?’’ Hon. Sanyang questioned.

The Foni Kansala NAM, however, suggested that the National Assembly select committee should develop strategies and means which would help the parliamentarians to guide the farmers.

In a separate development, the parliamentarians unanimously adopted the minutes of the National Assembly meeting held on August 21st 2008, the report of the 54th Common-wealth Parliamentarian Association (CPA) conference, held in Malaysia, as well as the report of the 118th inter-parliamentary Union General Assembly.