Agriculture in The Gambia

The Gambia’s economy primarily relies on the export of groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, and millet.[1] The Gambia also produces mangoes, corn, sesame, palm kernel, and cashews.[2] Nevertheless, the groundnut trade has historically been prioritized by the Gambian government over time.[4] The above has proven consequential for the country’s economic growth, development, and stability.[4]

In the country’s economy, the main export or cash crop is the groundnut (also known as the peanut).[4] In 2002, the crop made up 6% of The Gambia’s GDP.[4] Around 60% of the groundnut production is exported while the remaining 30% is domestically consumed.[4] The country has used about 45% of its land to grow the crop.[4] Although the Portuguese initially brought groundnuts to The Gambia in the 1700s, its trade was started by the British in 1820 with increasing demand for groundnuts in North America and Europe, notably in Britain and France, being used to make such products as industrial oil, candles, and soap.[4]

The groundnut trade expanded in the late 1870s as a large portion of its new primary commodities trade which was a result of the transatlantic slave trade’s collapse.[4] Groundnuts turned into the only agricultural asset to the Gambian economy by 1904, the lack of diversity in the sector concerning the government. When the groundnut sub-sector was reformed in the midst of labor shortages, the country employed foreign farmers from neighboring countries to increase groundnut exports.[4] These foreign farmers were recruited during the time when it was raining. There were 32,220 foreign farmers in 1915, making up an average of ⅓ contributions to groundnut exports per year. This led to population growth, the 1924 establishment of the Department of Agriculture, and the groundnut trade’s expansion as the number of local farmers grew and foreign farmers established themselves in The Gambia. The long term result of prioritizing groundnut exports was that The Gambia was producing more for export and less for domestic consumption because of increasing demand for the groundnut and because of incentives from the British colonial power.[4] The prioritizing of producing more for international trade and less to support domestic demand continued after independence.[4]

Even before independence in 1965, two methods were employed to make for more fertile land to increase the production of groundnut exports. The fallow system was one in which a given piece of land was not grown on for 15 to 30 years while farmers also interchanged or grew different crops in one piece of land. Both of them were dependent on enough arable land being available. However, as the population gradually increased, the duration of uncultivated land decreased which made for more land being grown on per year with more labor. Growing on more land gave farmers hardly anything in return which led to a decrease in groundnut yields as well as in farm incomes used to buy food. In response, in 1940, the Gambian government subsidized food imports and mechanized agricultural work usually done with human labor. The above did not address food insecurity and the food import subsidy was costly for the government. The government did not have an option but to start importing rice at which point it became the most important crop for ordinary Gambians’ diet.

Fast-paced urbanization coupled with increased demand for rice has been a common trend within many African countries, including in The Gambia.[4] For many African families and workers that have lifestyles outside of the agricultural sector, it is more time efficient to prepare milled rice than other locally grown cereals for food.[4] Thus, in The Gambia, rice is the single most critical food source, more for the urban than rural population.[4] As of the country’s independence in 1965, about 15% of the population lived in cities.[4] This number has grown to 57% in 2009, further heightening the country’s reliance on rice.[4] Rice is also highly relied on for food in urban centers because a lot of governments on the continent subsidize rice to keep the urban population satisfied while feeding them.[4]

Initially, during the colonial period and by independence, native Asian rice surpassed the African variety in domestic production.[7] During this period, locally-grown rice was abundant in The Gambia. However, groundnut production increased due to foreign farmers coming to the country to work, further pushing The Gambia into the global economy.[4] The above eventually made the production of groundnuts for export surpass that of rice within The Gambia.[4] Rice’s domestic production further decreased as seasonal droughts started to impact rice crop yields. Economic reforms passed in the 1980s that exchanged producer-protection subsidies with more market-based solutions and cheap imports also reduced local rice production.[7][8] At the same time, rice farmers, most of them being women, could not keep up with increasing urban demand for rice as seasonal famine increased in severity.[8][7] The Gambia ultimately started to heavily rely on rice imports because it did not prioritize rice production.[4] Currently, imports make up around 70% of rice consumed per year.[7]

There are several different foreign aid programs that are working toward developing The Gambia’s agricultural sector. These include The Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (GIRAV), The Large-scale Ecosystem-based Adaptation Project in The Gambia, and The Food and Agriculture Sector Development Project.[5][9][10]

The agriculture sector in The Gambia is impacted by increasing temperatures and droughts.[13] Salt water is also mixing with freshwater in the River Gambia due to rising sea levels, causing salt erosion in rice crop fields.[6]

In addition to international monetary support toward land development and climate change mitigations, local Gambian farmers are taking steps to address the impacts of climate change. They have been working to implement contour bunds, lines of rock that allow farmers to help control irrigation, as well as gabions, buildup of rock and wire mesh that help reduce water runoff and subsequent salt erosion.[6]