By Assan Bah
The Government of The Gambia has launched a direct payment campaign to settle outstanding dues owed to farmers who delivered groundnuts during the 2025 trade season.
The initiative, spearheaded by the National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC)—formerly known as the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC)—has moved into the North Bank Region (NBR) following a similar exercise in the Upper River Region last week. In partnership with the Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Societies (FACs), the NFSPMC is distributing payments on-site at seccos to farmers who can verify their deliveries.
The campaign follows widespread complaints from farmers who claim they have not received payment for their groundnuts, despite having delivered their produce months ago to official community buying points.
Officials involved in the exercise told farmers that the reconciliation they did revealed a troubling discrepancy: more than 800 metric tons of groundnuts, collected at the community level, never reached GGC depots. The Corporation reassured farmers that it would honor payments for all verified deliveries. However, they made it clear that Community Produce Marketing Society (CPMS) presidents would be held accountable for the discrepancy and for the groundnuts that were not delivered to official depots.
Over forty farmers from seven seccos were paid in the Kerewan cycle, covering the Badibou and Sabach Sanjal districts. Three seccos in the Barra cycle with over 30 farmers have also been paid. The payments are scheduled to continue today in the Barra cycle.
