In his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) for the year 2022, delivered at National Assembly chambers on Thursday, September 15th, President Adama Barrow revealed his Government’s plans to create a fund that will carry about 70% guaranty to the financial institutions for credit financing of agricultural investments by either individuals or SMEs. This, he said, will induce the needed capital to transform and modernise agriculture in the country.
Further highlighting achievements in the agriculture sector, the President informed that at present, the Ministry of Agriculture is implementing eight major projects, with a total portfolio of USD$294.13 million mobilised through partner support.
Last year, he said, the Agriculture sector registered increases, above national average, in the production levels of crops, such as paddy, maize, millet, groundnut, and sesame.
“The production of key commodities, like vegetables, fruits, milk, and eggs, also increased. As a result, the per capita availability of these food items has increased, even though both population and demand increased. Due to increased support from FAO and WFP, commercial poultry farming increased by about 40% in 2021”.
He went on: “To boost the incomes of farming households, the Government has in the past five years invested heavily to modernise and transform our agriculture sector. As a result, through donor-funded projects, the sector was able to reach three hundred communities, thus opening 6,000 hectares for rice cultivation, four hundred hectares for vegetable production and more than one hundred poultry schemes to boost the availability of poultry meat and locally produced eggs”.
The President noted that these investments and their results have laid a solid foundation for the sector’s investment plan.
The SoNA gives the President the opportunity to highlight progress in various sectors and the prospects and plans for his government in the coming years.
In summing up his achievement in the last five years, President Barrow said his government “offers the nation a new socio-political order, not tied to social preferences, partisan politics, or any form of extremism”. This, he went on: “is a national order purely for patriotic service and development”.
