By Mustapha Jallow
Muhammed Njie, the managing director of the National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPM), formerly called Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC), has said in an interview that the government’s Enhancing, Value Addition in the Groundnut Sector project will not only produce oil, but also support farmers in alleviating poverty and enhancing social development in the Gambia.
According to research, the project had once suffered a setback during the previous regime of ex-president Jammeh after receiving millions of US dollar loan by Islamic Development Bank.
GAMWORKS, designated as the implementing agency, once expressed concern over how the project had been delayed due to the previous regime’s inability to fulfill the loan conditions. Officials say since the current government took over the project, significant progress has been made with support from the same partner—the Islamic Development Bank.
Barrow and his cabinet ministers recently visited the GGC to inspect work being done at the project facility aimed at processing groundnuts into oil, animal feed and fertilizer. The GGC managing director said this strongly demonstrated government’s commitment in improving the condition of farmers and self-sufficiency.
Groundnut, also known as peanut, is a vital legume crop globally cultivated for its oil benefits and other food products which can be made from its nuts, thus making it a significant cash crop in regions. The Gambia is now targeting cooking oil self-sufficiency.
In this special interview on the project titled: Enhancing, Value Addition in the Groundnut Sector. GGC boss spoke about the aims, work models, challenges, expectations and other topics.
Foroyaa: What is the principal objective of this project?
Njie: Basically, the president came to visit the facilities to understand the progress registered and also the way forward. As you have rightly said, the project is almost near in completion. We have a new state-of-earth 350 throughput selling plant and 300 throughputs crossing plant—and 3.5 MW co-generation power plant. So, the president came here to have first-hand information and understand the challenges—and try to see if we can find a solution to the way forward. So, we are really pleased with this visit because it demonstrates that the president is fully committed to the course of the farmers because ultimately this is all about the farmers. So, I think that’s very important.
Foroyaa: What are the products that you plan to produce?
Njie: So, basically this one is going to produce very good groundnut kernels. And those kernels we can export to our markets, both Asian and European markets. And also, it will produce peanut oil, groundnut cake that is used for animal feed. So, but you’ve heard the president mention that we need to add value. So, that is the next step, and he really made that as his priority—so that whatever we produce here, we also consume it locally. In short, it will support the farmers too, to alleviate poverty and enhance the social development of this country, because groundnut is a cash crop, so if we can add value to the cash crop—we don’t have to import oil. So, we can consume the oil locally, if we are able to add value.
Foroyaa: What is the capacity of the mill?
Njie: Like, I have mentioned, we have two factories—one will do selling, it decorticates the groundnut. It has the capacity of decorticating 350 tonnes per day. It will then move to the crossing unit, which has a capacity of 300 metric tonnes per day. So, that would generate 100 metric tonnes of crude oil and groundnut cake too on the other side. It has a big capacity that can actually process up to 100 thousand metric tonnes a year or more.
Foroyaa: What are your targeted markets?
Njie: Well, right now what we are doing is trying to export and our market is mainly the Asian market and the European market. The European market normally buys the crude oil and then the Asian market buys the kernels. And for the groundnut cake, we have the regional market such as the Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and by extension it can go all the way to Algeria. Yes, so there is a market for all the products. But like I said, ultimately, we want the product to be consumed locally. So, we want to have the peanut oil refined, packaged and sold in the local market and to export it. And the president had really emphasized on that. And also, the animal feed, we want to have another value addition—that would be consumed by our animals. So, that’s the next step and I believe that in the coming periods, we will be able to achieve all of that.
Foroyaa: What tonnage of raw materials will you be consuming?
Njie: Well, 350 metric tonnes per day, that means we can process 50 thousand in three months. It also means even in a year; we can do up to 200 thousand in a year. So, it’s just huge—and Gambia our productions are produced between 80 to 100 thousand. So, this will encourage farmers to even go back to the farm and produce more groundnuts. In those days, we used to produce over 100 thousand metric tonnes, it has declined because the market was not there—but this facility will now encourage farmers to produce more and also encourage new farmers, especially the private sector to come in and also produce more peanuts. So, that we can actually have more oil; sell it to the local population for the economy and health benefits.
Foroyaa: What were the total purchase and production last year?
Njie: We purchased almost 38 thousand plus metric tonnes, and I think the production—it was like 80 thousand metric tonnes; I cannot remember off the top of my head, but we were able to purchase up to 38 thousand metric tonnes.
Foroyaa: What quality of products do you expect?
Njie: We export, like the kernels; our variety is similar to that of our neighboring country, Senegal. So, we export to China; so, the peanut oil is in very good quality, and we export it to Europe—some of our customers in France and to Asia. So, the quality is very good because we test it {oil} with a very standard laboratory called Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS); it is a very reputable laboratory company. So, the quality is very good. Although, with our peanuts, we have some challenges of aflatoxin—that is the reason why we are not also entering the European market. But then, there was a program for aflatoxin control in Africa called PACA. FAO and TIKA-project provided some funding to pilot the application of aflasafe in the farms. We did that, the results were actually very good and successful. And in those batches, we were able to export up to UK without any issues. So, we wanted to continue that; and also encourage the pilot sector to participate in that process—so, that they can sell to the farmers; because if the farmers also applied in their farms, we are going to pay more for that; because we want to sell it to the European market that also pays more. Test results are good, now we want to continue engaging our partners to see if they can help us to continue the pilot scheme.
Foroyaa: And in terms of nutrition?
Njie: Nutrition, peanut is a very important peanut for pregnant and lactating women; it’s something that is very essential. Some hospitals use it. They blend it locally and provide it to children under 5 and pregnant women. So, groundnut is nutritious; again, like I said, even for the oil, if you can refine it here, for the health benefits you cannot imagine. It’s very good because we don’t know what this imported oil is. But if we can control our own oil, in terms of the quality—the peanut is from us locally produced, that is very nutritious. It is going to help us eradicate all those health issues in this country.
Foroyaa: What are your challenges regarding the groundnut trade?
Njie: There are a lot of challenges, but groundnut technically is like that. When you are dealing with a lot of stakeholders it is not easy. First of all, the relationship that we have with the cooperatives is challenging. Sometimes, we had some challenges with them in terms of disbursement of cash. That’s why we have changed the methodology in many aspect—we involved the bank, so that the finances can be controlled. And this year, we have seen the phone-money—even though we have some challenges, which is normal for a new system. So, those are the challenges, but we are trying to improve to overcome the challenges. We believe that through dialogue with farmers, we can come to a better approach.
Foroyaa: What is the total investment in the project?
Njie: The total investment is I think is close to $35 million US dollar but is not the facility; but they bought some barges for the river transport system. About ten barges and they rehabilitated some of the warehouses, and our quality control laboratory—there was some investment into it. For some, the project has been going on for a long time. So the only challenge is that the factory is not yet ready, but some other investments were already done. So, in totality, it is about $30 to $35 million USD.
Foroyaa: Do you have plans to improve the quality of groundnuts that you export in order to have a better price?
Njie: Again, it is all about the aflatoxin, so it is a collective effort. For us, the ministry of agriculture, farmers etc……..because aflatoxin is not only on planting, even the storage, harvesting and the entire process—there has to be some sensitization—capacity building and we need to introduce new varieties of seeds that resilient to this fungus that causes the aflatoxin. So, I know the ministry of agriculture is really committed to this and the Seeds Secretarial is coming up with new solutions—like one country, one seed policy, where we try to invest in new varieties that are resilient to our environment. And also try to re-generate our soil. So, I think, if we sensitize them (farmers) when they harvest, how do they have to store it? How do they have to plant? so, it’s an enter process. I know the ministry, they are aware of extension services. They are doing their best by training them (farmers). The department of agriculture, everybody’s hand on deck, be our partners, international partners, FOA, World Food Programme, everybody is doing their best.
Speaking on dependency
We all have seen the effectiveness of COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine war. Prices of commodities were skyrocketed, including oil. So, if you have to import oil, you are at the mercy of the suppliers. They determine the price. So, we have to produce locally; if we want to eradicate inflation issues, we have to produce locally. And groundnuts being a cash crop, like I said, can generate many other things. Even the oil, if we can produce our own oil locally, we’ll reduce the stress of sourcing foreign exchange for imports because if you want to buy, you need foreign exchange and that we have to source, which creates a lot of stress and inflation. But if we produce locally then it means we don’t need foreign exchange. In fact, we are going to sell in dalasi, if we have surplus, we export, and they give foreign exchange. It would significantly reduce inflation and also consuming locally produced oil addresses food security because we don’t have to rely on suppliers. We [will] have it in our country.
His final words to the farmers
I want to assure the farmers that, especially the project—the reason why President Barrow came here is because he is very committed to the course of the farmers and to ensure that this project is completed and there is value addition. Ultimately, all this big facilities investment—is for the farmers. We want them to benefit from the hard work that they are producing. And I want to also assure them that this corporation, we are also very committed; we want to work with them. You know, when we do changes or when we are into new approaches, we want to make things better for them. Not necessarily to impose on them. That’s why we always have dialogue with them. We do have meetings with them in Jenoi (in LRR), GGC and at the ministry; so it is not like a one-way traffic, it’s a dialogue through the approach. Sometimes, they [farmers] give us recommendations, we change our approaches, and we implement them. So, all this is geared towards addressing their needs and the country through food security, because they are ultimate players in addressing food security in this country. So, we see them as very important stakeholders. Therefore, I want to assure them that we are very much committed to this partnership. And then, we just want to emphasize that……let there be patience; so that we can all work together for the betterment of this country.
Foroyaa: Thank you MD Njie.
Njie: Thank you Foroyaa.
