Malanding,

While I agree with you that  peanut farming is not the answer to our economic 
woes and I certainly do not  have the answers, but I am just a little taken 
aback by your suggestion that we  train people and then farm them out for 
employment in the West. Isn't that  worsening the brain drain problem and what 
about developing the home front if we  invest in educating our youth and then 
sending them out to go work in other  countries?

I can assure you that if I was able to find opportunities at  home, I would 
not have ventured elsewhere and I have head this same sentiment  expressed by 
many.

Rather than framing out our youth to the West, I think  one area that the 
economies of African countries in particular can be greatly  improved is if the 
Western countries like the U.S and U.K for example open up  trade and allow 
African goods to be exported to these countries without any of  the current 
restrictions and quotas that result in imbalance of trade against  Africa. Along 
with that, rather than institutions like the IMF and World Bank  lining the 
pockets of corrupt governments on the continent and sinking African  countries 
deeper and deeper into debt,  and if the intention is to help  Africa as they 
claim, some of those funds can be used to make capital available  to African 
entrepreneurs to start businesses and to encourage Africans to buy  African and 
keep the money at home and create jobs locally. 

As someone  involved in the import/export business, it pains me daily when I 
see that all  the commodities we use on a daily basis in Africa is imported  
and even  when it comes to the procurement of those commodities, the various 
African  governments who place orders for these goods bypass African companies 
in the  business to utilize outside companies mainly because they are looking 
for  kickbacks in the transaction. In the case of Gambia, the APRC have 
essentially  taken this business from the small business person and turned it into a 
monopoly  for a select few.

If you look at the U.S government, the Small Business  Administration puts a 
lot of priority in assisting entrepreneurs to set up  businesses, from 
providing grants, low interest loans and free services to  prepare business plans and 
free mentoring from retired executives in SCORE (  Service Corps of Retired 
Executives)who volunteer their services through the SBA  all intended to 
encourage those who are so inclined to start small businesses.  All of this because 
they realize the impact that the creation of small  businesses has on the 
economy from increasing tax revenue to the creation of  employment opportunities 
for the general public. The U.S government also  provides many good incentives  
to small businesses if they create jobs and  they also encourage economic 
growth in rural areas by providing grants to  entrepreneurs through the community 
development block grants program if they  will start businesses in these 
rural areas.

Of course single crop farming  is an evil practice that was implemented by 
colonial governments who basically  assigned each of the countries they 
colonized different crops to grow which they  could then buy and import into the 
Mother country namely the U.K in our case.  When this system was devised,  the 
economic well being of the colonized  country did not feature in the decision. 
Instead, it was designed with the  intention to meet the needs of the colonist 
country who only cared that they had  different providers for what they needed 
in their own economies without worrying  about the impact on the colonized 
country then or in the long run. 

In  terms of agriculture, encouraging farmers to grow multiple crops that can 
both  be consumed at home as well as that have a market outside the country 
and  working to help them gain access to these markets are other alternatives 
that  can be looked at. Getting more people interested in growing for example  
vegetables and even organic herbs to name a few, and to establish industries  
such as canning and freezing of vegetables and our local fruits for export 
etc,  and even tapping into the garment industry in the West by assisting  
entrepreneurs to tap into this market by helping them to get manufacturing  
contracts such as are offered to people in Asia are all things that our  government 
can give priority to in discussions with our development partners  instead of 
taking more loans that has no impact on the condition of  the  average citizen 
in our country or elsewhere in Africa.

Also working to  change the mind set that imported items are better than 
locally made or locally  grown will go a long way in helping to keep money at home.

I believe that  there are so many ways in which economic growth can be 
stimulated in The Gambia  and the rest of Africa without compromising our own growth 
in other areas  and  instead of training our youth and then farming them out 
with all the  accompanying negative effects that may have in our overall  
advancement.

It is certainly an excellent topic of debate to see what  options we have 
towards finding a solution to this dilemma.

Jabou  Joh


In a message dated 9/13/2006 3:06:15 P.M. Central Daylight  Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:
Malanding Jaiteh  <[log in to unmask]> wrote: If one is to go by the NADD 
Manifesto, The  Alliance's Document and the 
statement by SoS Touray that the APRC government  is to provide farmers 
500 tractors, looks like Gambians are poised for the  same old, same old 
- dump more of our hard borrowed cash into the  agriculture basket. By 
now it should be clear to all that the trouble in the  agricultural 
sector is more than just lack of funding. Few would disagree  that 
dispite two governments, aid from two Chinas plus the West and even  
Iran, countless Departments of Agriculture, projects (Mixed Farming,  
GARD, Jahali-Pacharr, LADEP) institutions and agencies (NARI, NADA),   
and billion of  Dalasi, the Gambia is neither self-sufficient in food  
production nor has it increase earning from agriculture. Infact the  
contribution of agriculture to our national economy has been on the  
decline while all these is going on. Given the current state of the  
physical environment (climate and water resources) and economic  
environment (globalization and crop pricing), it is hard to imagine what  
agriculture can do for the Gambia.
Given the above, I would argue that it  is high time we take a second 
look at agriculture (represented by the Axe  and the Hoe on our coat of 
arm) as the engine to national development  efforts since independence.  
I would go a step further to ask the  incoming government (APRC, NADD or 
The Alliance) to make a  "put man on  the moon" kind of declaration on 
education. Cornerstone of this would be  immediate expansion of the 
University system and begining 2010 to train free  of charge:

2500 undergraduate degree and 100 graduates each year (2010 -  2015)
5000 undergrads and 500 graduate degrees ( after 2015)

In  addition to free training, the government should negotiate with US, 
EU and  other large economies to help provide these with temporary worker 
visa. In  return the students will be required to pay through their 
employers 10% of  their salary towards re-embursing the Gambia 
government. The idea is to  borrow and invest in a product more 
marketable than peanuts.

Some  back of the envelop calculation:
At the end of the fourth year, with 10000  students * $2,500  per year 
tuition is $25,000,000 (the cost of 500  tractors)
suppose 50% of those landed in a job in the UK or US ($35000) per  year. 
Remittance at 10% of salary  is $3,500 * 5000 = $17,500,000. Nay  Bad! 
and defintely more than what we get from peanuts these days.
This  would not include money sent home to family and friend, on 
vacations  (knowing you do not have to worry about the visa office), on a 
retirement  house or two (every Gambians wish).
Infact we are losing that many to  immigration as we speak. Just that the 
ones we are losing now are less  prepared to survive in Babilon, with 
barely a driver license much more a  high school diploma to compete the 
skilled labor from Poland or  Mexico.

Perhaps I am just dreaming. Certainly I do hope its a dream come  true.

Malanding Jaiteh  

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