By Sailu Bah Following the presidential statement, during the state opening of the National assembly recently, in which the President stated that importation of the most common vegetables will be banned with effectfrom 1st March 2015, this reporter went to talk to some major Suppliers, distributors, as well as importers, on Wednesday 4 March 2015 in Banjul. Speaking to some of them, Mamadou Bobo Jallow, a major supplier confirmed that he heard the statement of the president. He was asked whether Gambian producers could meet the market demands for onions, carrot, potatoes etc. He responded that it may be possible but raised question of quality and handling. “Many times people buy imported vegetables instead of local ones because of quality and the way they are handled.” Alhagie Jallow, also a retailer reiterated similar comments and added if the local producers could provide quality product it will help to develop the economy. He further urged government to work on ensuring that the locally produced vegetables meet international standard. Similar sentiments were reiterated by some of the importers who expressed the hope that the local producers would be able to deliver the needs of the market. This reporter could read skepticism as to whether sufficient groundwork has been done to meet the needs of the market. This reporter will still make effort to meet with the officials at the Ministry of trade to find out what they have in place to implement the government policy.]]>
