Abdoulai G.Dibba
Farmers renew their call for Government to help them address the perennial problem of lack of cash at Seccos, so that they can receive their hard earned income.
Farmers in the following Seccos within the respective depot circles of the Bara, Kerewan, Kaur, Bansang, and Kudang, made these calls on Monday February 4, 2019.
According to them, there have not been any buying of groundnuts in their respective Seccos since January 15, 2019, due to lack of cash; that up to the time they were giving this information to this reporter, there was no sign that there will be cash available at the Seccos.
Alhagi Njie a farmer, informed this medium that they are at the mercy of middlemen who purchase their groundnuts at cut throat prices, because Government cannot ensure the availability of cash in Seccos, to guarantee the buying of groundnuts.
“Our Secco have been disbursed twice since the beginning of the groundnut trade season and we are yet to receive our monies even though our groundnut has been taken to the depots,” Njie said.
This reporter has confirmed that a total cash of D250 million was disbursed twice. The disbursement of D100 million and D150 million, were the two disbursements of cash made respectively, to buy groundnuts for this year’s trade season so far, which is equivalent to 14,045 metric tons of groundnuts.
