Kanja Sanneh, Secretary of State for Agriculture has said that since the rainy season is fast approaching, his Department of State has put in place mechanism to make fertilizers available to farmers on time by the end of June 2007.

Responding to several questions from members of the National Assembly on Monday on fertilizers issues and other agricultural concerns, SoS Sanneh noted that the provision of fertilizers to Gambian farmers is contracted to Syben Madi and Sons. He added that on 15 June 2007, a vessel will be loaded with 3500 tons of fertilizers to Banjul and will arrive on July 7, 2007.

He further stated that the fertilizers will be accessed by farmers from strategic locations countrywide; noting that at present there is a task force working with regional Governors on the modality of selling the fertilizers to the local community.

On whether “there was any fertilizer purchased for the last cropping season for the farming community, if no, why and if yes, how much was distributed regionally”, SoS Sanneh noted that it was not purchased for the last cropping season, simply because there was a balance of stock of fertilizers from the previous  season.