By Kemo Kanyi
The National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC), Monday began settling outstanding payments owed to farmers whose groundnuts were purchased on credit basis.
According to NFSPMC which is formerly called the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC), some farmers’ peanuts were purchased on credit by ‘Secco’ (buying and selling point) presidents during the previous groundnut trading season.
The payment exercise, which commenced in Banjul, targeted farmers who were not paid after some Secco presidents allegedly failed to disburse funds provided by the government.
Speaking at the exercise, NFSPMC Deputy Managing Director Lamin Sanyang said the government had already released the required funds during the trading season, but some Secco presidents mishandled the payments.
“There was a situation in which one of the Secco presidents claimed that he did not receive the money, which was not true. The corporation had sufficient funds to ensure that farmers were paid immediately, as directed by the government,” Sanyang said.
He said the corporation had decided to assume responsibility for settling the outstanding payments, particularly for affected farmers in Jokadu.
“We are pleased to announce that we are now taking on the burden to ensure that the farmers are paid today, especially those from Jokadu. Today, we are paying between D1.2 million and D1.6 million directly to the affected farmers,” he added.
Sanyang said the government was taking steps to hold those responsible for the delayed payments accountable.
He disclosed that the corporation had referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Chambers for possible legal action and advised farmers in other regions with similar claims to report their cases to the police for investigation.
Also speaking at the event, Modou Njie, Secretary General of The Gambia Farmers’ Union, said the union had held several meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture to seek a resolution to the issue.
He stressed that the delayed payments were not the result of government failure and urged Secco presidents and farmers to avoid the practice of purchasing groundnuts on credit in future trading seasons to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
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