By Makutu Manneh
Dr. Ousman Gajigo, a development economist and senior member of the Gambia For All party, has accused the government of tailoring its temporary ban on onion and potato imports to benefit politically connected large-scale producers, rather than the country’s small-scale farmers.
In public remarks, Dr. Gajigo argued that similar protections were never extended to local women growers, who have cultivated onions for decades. The recent arrival of large agribusiness firms, he said, appeared to be the decisive factor behind the policy shift.
“The ban will only create recurrent annual crises and open doors for corruption. If it were just the local Gambian women farmers, this government would have never put an import ban there; they would not have cared about them,” he said.
He suggested that large producers had lobbied the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration, and Employment, calling the resulting decision a potential source of rent-seeking and favoritism.
Dr. Gajigo emphasized that women farmers have long produced onions without comparable state intervention. In his view, the ban represents a superficial response that does little to address the structural problems facing smallholders, particularly women who dominate onion production.
According to Dr. Gajigo, The Gambia consumes about 30,000 tons of onions each year, yet roughly 80 percent of that demand is still met through imports. With attainable yields of 25 to 40 tons per hectare, he said, a relatively small share of village gardens and private farms could satisfy domestic needs and even generate export surpluses.
“Yet production remains chronically low,” he said, citing findings from visits to more than 100 vegetable farms conducted through philanthropic work. Among the main constraints, he listed high seed costs, inadequate fencing, unreliable water supplies, limited post-harvest storage, and the absence of improved seed varieties that would enable rainy-season cultivation.
Smallholder horticultural farmers, Dr. Gajigo added, have been largely neglected by the central government. He noted that the 2026 national budget included no dedicated support for vegetable producers and criticized poor coordination between the ministries responsible for agriculture and industry.
Without sustained investment in production and marketing, he warned, local output will continue to meet only a few months of national consumption—deepening the trade deficit, putting pressure on the dalasi and raising the cost of living for ordinary Gambians.
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