The residents of Changai Toro village in the Sami District, Central River Region north (CRR/n) have called for job opportunities in the rural areas to help retain their children to help them with their agricultural production.Parents in the rural areas are greatly affected by youth rural-urban migration as most of their children migrate to urban centres in search of greener pastures; thus, hampering rural productivity, especially on agriculture and other income generating avenues. This increases the poverty in the rural areas and affects the health of parents as they are left to do the laborious work all by themselves. As Gambians vote in presidential elections on December 4, parents in Changai Toro in the Central River Region are demanding for each of the 6 presidential candidates to address the issue by ensuring that rural youth earn a decent living in rural areas and to help parents with agricultural activities.Samba Wane, a farmer in the Central River Region whose son left for the urban Gambia in search of greener pasture expressed concern over the rural-urban migration syndrome, especially during the rainy season. Samba Wane, farmer in the Central River Region He said the nightmare is affecting him and other farmers. “My son, who is supposed to assist me at the farm has gone to the Kombos to acquire life skills and earn a better living and left me alone with lots of work,” he said.“I have very big farms such as groundnut, maize, and millet and I am working there alone. I was shocked when I heard he left for the urban areas.”Rural Gambia does not offer access to jobs and other opportunities for the youth. Wane’s son, unable to earn a decent living in his village, sneaked out quietly one morning. Wane narrated that “one day I went to his house to get him wake-up so that he would go to the farms, but upon my arrival, his friends told me he had left for the urban area. I was shocked and amazed.” He said his son’s dream is to acquire skills and to earn better. Therefore, he said the next government should establish vocational institutes in the rural areas to ensure the youth acquire skills in their own regions. This would solve the rural-urban migration problem, he said. Wane now employs a labourer he pays D20, 000 for the rainy season. On whether he would vote for a candidate who can solve their problem, Wane said he would not vote for any candidate who has no solutions to their problems.“My candidate, if elected, would help the youths. I have listened to them (politicians) talk and I would not vote for anyone who has no solution to our problems. I am voting for my candidate because I’m hopeful that he has the solution to our problems," he said without disclosing his preferred choice. Hardship and poverty Ousman Sonko, a development specialist and a retired agriculturist, said rural-urban migration has increased the labour intensity of parents and lowered agricultural productivity leading to food insecurity in rural areas.Ousman Sonko, a development specialistHe said the deplorable living conditions of parents due to the negative effects of the rural-urban drift has also increased hardship and poverty in provincial communities.“Retention of rural youth will contribute to the development of the country, especially the rural areas. They will provide the needed support, social protection and security to their parents,” Sonko said.Sonko, who is also the Vice Principal at the Rural Development Institute in Mansakonko, Lower River Region, said that the presence of youth in rural areas may further provide a justification and pressure for investment into the youth sector.He said such investment can significantly contribute to rural development and by extension minimise pressure on urban infrastructure including housing, traffic and even crime rate.Dado Jallow, a farmer and mother of five at Changai Toro village, saw her first son embark on irregular migration routes, and two other sons migrated to the Kombos in search of greener pastures. Dado Jallow, farmer and mother of five at Changai Toro villageWith no manpower on the farm, Jallow looks after a son in early grade and a little daughter. “I definitely want them to stay with me and work here, but there are no job opportunities here,” she said.Like Wane, Jallow too wants the next government to provide more job opportunities in rural Gambia to minimize youth exodus. “If my sons are able to get employment here, I would be glad,” she said .She also affirmed that she would not vote for any candidate who has no solution to the problems they are facing.According to a case study published on “The Gneiss Blog Tumblr” in June 2015 on rural-urban migration in the Gambia, many people are forced to move to the urban areas due to the decline in investment in social services in the rural area and the rapidly declining rural population.The findings of the study also stated that decentralisation of services to the rural areas would help to support people in the long term to improve the quality of life of the rural dwellers and help them become self-sufficient. What manifestoes do candidates offer?The National People’s Party manifesto promised that an NPP-led government would encourage and support improved agricultural productivity and livestock production. “As an NPP Government, we plan to unfold and implement a massive mechanisation plan. Farmers require more support, and we guarantee that this will be executed,” it stated.The Turnaround Movement of the independent candidate Essa Mbye Faal states that their government would shift from subsistence farming to boost food production by establishing a thriving agricultural sector with potential to produce a large, diverse food basket to ensure food security and provide “sustainable employment in ten years”.Mama Kandeh’s Gambia Democratic Congress promises “sound economic policies” in agriculture, tourism and fisheries development.The United Democratic Party wants to tap into Gambia’s “huge untapped potentials in the agricultural sector”, which can improve the lives of the people, increase their food security, improve the nutritional standards for all ages, create employment for both rural and urban populations, and drives the national economy through linkages to other sectors.The “Transformative Agenda 2021” of the PDOIS states that production-based welfare would be linked to consumption-based welfare enabling individual income and community income to rise proportionately to facilitate availability and affordability of food, to promote general welfare of both rural and urban dwellers.While manifestoes for parties and candidates intend to tackle rural development issues that may help tackle rural-urban migration, they have not made it a top priority. The agricultural development plans are meaningless if there are no youth to work on the farms.
In the Lower River Region of The Gambia, access to healthcare remains a nightmare for an area who's population is more than 82, 361 representing a population density of 0.51. It is the only region without a hospital as Basse’s health centre has now been upgraded to a district hospital. The private clinics remain out of reach as the majority of the dwellers are poor while the minor health centres across the region have no drugs most times of the year. “We are really worried about the situation in our communities. Even if we get to the health centre there is no qualified health professional to attend to us as patients, which makes life very difficult for us," said Mamadou Dem, who hailed from Dongoroba in Jarra East. Apart from the lack of professionally trained health personnel, they are also often plagued with lack of drugs to treat people, while communities would trek kilometres before they can get the facilities, according to him. Dem recalled moments when there would be emergencies that needed urgent medical attention, and they could do nothing about it because health facilities are too far to reach within a short time. According to him, people in the region have been experiencing a nightmare as there are not enough health facilities in the region, with absolutely zero hospitals to take care of major health emergencies. “We have to walk for kilometres to access the ones in the region. Before you can see a health personnel, the person will have to wait for hours especially when it comes to getting access to drugs. That is because there are not enough drugs in these available facilities. The only thing we can get is to get a prescription and then go to private pharmacies to buy, which is usually very costly considering the poverty around here," he continued. The Gambia Bureau of Statistics’ (GBoS) Population and Demography report published in 2017 has described poverty as more of a rural phenomenon as the rural poverty rate has increased from 64.2 percent in 2010 to 69.5 percent in 2015/16. The poor in rural areas account for about 64 percent of the total poor in the country. Dem has reached these statistics stating that most dwellers do not have income to continue buying drugs from the private pharmacies. “It is very painful to travel long distances to seek for healthcare only to find that there is no person available to attend to you or there is no drug available. You have to go empty handed," Dem lamented. He urged the government to come to resolve their request that has been pending for decades, while people continue to die of avoidable illnesses.Now that Barrow has been re-elected as president for the next five years, Dem firmly appealed for consideration of their plights. Surang Jallow, a native of Seno in Jarra West had nearly lost his sister-in-law at labour due to lack of blood at the facility. “I went in search of blood from my village up to Farafenni, where I was lucky to get blood to save her life.” The poor condition of the health centres is abysmal in rendering health services. Jallow explained that the cost they charge on patients for medical tests at the labs is D50 per test, stating that is expensive. “We are really tired of going to private pharmacies to buy drugs because it is expensive for us to afford, and there are no drugs in the health centres. I am urging the government to wipe our tears,” he decried. Jallow believes that the candidate he had voted for in the just concluded presidential election would address their nightmare. He remains hopeful that the new leadership will construct a major hospital in the region as well as improve the services of the existing facilities, including making drugs available. This will avoid many health-related casualties, including maternal mortality. The infant mortality rate was 96 for every thousand births and the under-five mortality was 137 per every thousand births, as per the 2013 Census. In Fololo too, Jarra Central the conditions remain the same in terms of poor service delivery, including drug shortage, lack of qualified medical practitioners and accessibility. Aminata Dem is a native of the community. “We walk from community to community before we get to a health centre and mostly, we stay all day without getting a single drug from the health centre. We have no other option but to go and buy the drugs from the private pharmacy.” She expects the newly elected government to ensure drugs are available in the health centres and also with necessary equipment for health personnel to be able to perform their duties as required. The former Health Minister Omar Sey, has blamed the poor health conditions on the lack of implementation of the primary health care strategy plan. “We have lost a lot of resources over the past 2 to 3 years that could be used to improve our primary health issues in the Gambia because in 2017, there was money that can address all the primary health problems in the country,” he said. He recommends the updating of the health policy and decentralising its implementation, arguing that such can make a difference for the rural health issues. The Gambia National Health Policy has expired since last year – 2012 – 2020 – and there is so far, no new policy available to set out the mechanism of improving the country’s healthcare.
The rise in the price of basic commodities in The Gambia for the past few months is unprecedented and rather challenging for low-income earners. The rise in prices isn’t showing no sign of decline weeks after Gambians re-elected Adama Barrow. The Gambia is a country with 48.5% of the population living below USD 1 a day. The current level of inflation in the country is becoming a nightmare for consumers whose expenditures are higher than their earnings. The situation, which remains hostile for low-income earners, necessitated their call for concern of price hike of goods. In Gambia, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods. Inflation rate in The Gambia increased to 7.34 percent in October from 7.01 percent in September of 2021. While food inflation increased to 8:80 percent and interest rate increased to 10:00 in October 2021, according to the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS). The Central Bank Governor, Buah Saidy said at a press conference on 8th September 2021 that the main drivers of food inflation were rice, vegetables, oils and fats, sugar, jam, honey and sweets, and other food products. He added that consumer price inflation on food and non-alcoholic beverages accelerated to 11.5% during the review period compared to 5.2% a year ago. Meanwhile, the World Bank also revealed that the headline inflation started increasing in January 2021, driven by food price increases, which is undermining household food security, but said it decelerated slightly to 6.9% y/y in August 2021. Consumers’ complaints Ebrima Mboob, 38, of Manjai and breadwinner of his family said feeding is the most expensive thing in the Gambia, right now. He complained that even D500 is not enough for the daily sustenance of the family (fish money) as a kilo of meat now costs D300. He lamented that all his monthly earnings go into family feeding, while other bills such as school fees, health care, water and electricity are being taken care of by his wife and siblings in Europe. “Even one does multiple jobs; it would be difficult to take care of his family needs alone. You must seek support from other relatives to help solve family needs,” he said. Fatou Jarju, 40, fishmonger at the Wellingara market said addressing the recent rise in the inflation, especially on basic commodities should be the priority of the re-elected president, Adama Barrow. She said the little profit she makes from her business does not benefit her as it all goes into the needs of her family. “It’s been five months now, I have not saved even D100 because from the little daily sales I make, I use that to sustain my family. My husband cannot do it alone. I have to assist him. The bills are also there and they should be settled and none of my children have graduated yet, they are all going to school,” the 40-year-old fishmonger said. A single mother at Sinchu Baliya, Saffiayatou Sanyang, 52, is scared that she might be a street beggar, if the situation remains unchanged. Sanyang, has been a mother of four, and a widow for the past 4 years who lives from hand-to-mouth through laundry service to put food on the table for her 4 children. She said if fish could cost D100 while she goes to market with D150; there is a high tendency that her family would not consume a balanced diet. “The recent increase in inflation should be a concern for everyone, not only the government. D200 of daily fish-money is no longer enough for families because fish alone cost D100 and above; while a cup of vegetable oil costs D25 that was sold for D10. Prices keep increasing and the government is not doing anything,” she decried. Since the change of government in 2017, the country has been experiencing different waves of price hikes as inflation continues to rise. Expert observation Former Accountant General and one-time Finance and Economic Affairs Minister in the Barrow led administration; Amadou Sanneh said the government should encourage many investments by Gambians and improve inflows of the foreign exchange as well as to improve the exchange rate and strengthening of the Dalasi. He said the Dalasi is falling and one has to factor in the valuation of the currency. “Sound macroeconomic management, financial management of the economy will ensure inflation comes down and there will be price stability and the exchange rate needs to be checked,” Sanneh suggested. The Gambia Government in a dispatch dated 23rd March 2020 introduced measures to control prices of essential commodities using the Commodities Emergency Powers Regulations, 2020. The development followed complaints from vendors and consumers about the exorbitant prices of essential commodities, especially basic food items, which sparked panic among buyers in the country. Another former finance minister, Abdou Colley said the inflation rise affects the consumers’ purchasing power and their ability to buy and consume goods; adding that it is also an effect on the rise in price of commodities which affect consumers ability to consume and maintain their pattern, likewise their welfare. “Its number one consequence is a reduction in growth. It slows down growth, meaning if the price of goods is increasing, then the consumption pattern is affected which leads them to reduce the quantities they purchase and this would lead to a slowdown in growth in the economy,” Colley explained. The former finance minister further explained that the rise in inflation also affects international competitiveness. “Gambian goods become relatively more expensive compared to other goods. Whereby Gambia’s ability as a country to export goods to other countries is affected and this reduces the country’s competitiveness. So, inflation affects growth in the economy and the competitiveness of the economy and also consumers’ welfare,” he said. NPP Gov’t Mitigation plan The National People’s Party manifesto states that the NPP Government would encourage and support improved agricultural productivity and livestock production. It explains that agricultural policies would seek to propel production and productivity through mechanisation to boost supplies at local markets for affordability by consumers. The NPP government aims to invest in the private sector to increase the surface of consolidated irrigated land with technological enhancement to the ideals of mechanisation; as well as to work with the private sector and all other interest groups to build storage facilities across the country for both local and industrial farmers to add value to agricultural crops and products such as fruits, vegetables and flours.