Agriculture

With no commercial mineral resources or manufacturing sector, agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for many Gambians. The agricultural sector employ about 75% of rural population with 78% of working women and 57% of men directly engaged in cropping, livestock husbandry or forestry (DCS 2003). Overall the agricultural sector account for about 40% of the Gambia’s export earnings contributing about 26% of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP. Crop production and transhumance livestock production are the main forms of agriculture in the Gambia. Agriculture is predominantly subsistence. Crop production and livestock management are the primary agricultural activities in the Gambia. Farmers own and manage both crops and livestock selling surplus to pay for basic needs.

Crop Production

Major crops in the Gambia include pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), rice, maize (Zea mays ssp. Mays), cotton, and cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Millet, rice and sorghum are native to West Africa. Groundnut, maize and cassava were introduced to the Gambia by the Portuguese sometime during the 17^th and 18^th centuries.  Commercial production of groundnut began around 1830 (Books 1975). First recorded groundnuts export from the Gambia was in 1830 when a British naval officer Captain Belcher shipped 100 baskets each costing half a dollar to the West Indies in 1830 (Books 1975). By 1851, groundnut exports increased to 11,095 tons. In 1923 the Department of Agriculture was established with the The goals of the Department were to improve the quantity and quality of groundnut grown and the preparation of the groundnut produced for export. In the mid-1950s the ox-plough was introduced and agricultural training centers established across the protectorate to train farmers.

Agricultural policy in post-independent Gambia was principally driven by the need to generate cash to pay for goods and services required for economic development. Through a combination of tax policies, credit facilities and subsidies, groundnut cultivation increased at the expense of food crops. Expansion of groundnut cultivation peaked around 1970s. By 1990s persistent drought, drop in world market prices and led to the decline in groundnut cultivation as farmers return to growing food crops.

Cultivated cropland area in 2002 was estimated at 304,000 ha from 169,000 in 1960 (DoSA 2002; FAO 2004). Despite the increase the per capita arable land decreased from 0.35 ha per person to 0.15 ha.  Forty-one percent of the cultivated area was under cash crops, primarily groundnuts with the remaining 59% under cereals. Sesame Seed, a minor, though a increasingly important alternative to ground was grown on 6000 ha.

Per capita arable land between 1961 and 2002. Source: DoSA 2002 and WDI 2000

Major food crops grown in the Gambia are millet, rice, maize, sorghum, cassava and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Favored by environmental conditions, millet is the most widely grown cereal in the Gambia. About 62% of the area under cereal crops in 2002 was millet. Rice is the food of choice for most Gambians particularly in urban centers even though much of it is imported. Since 1960s successive governments have invested heavily in lowland rice production. However, persistent droughts and saltwater intrusion in wetland areas have resulted in overall decline in area under rice cultivation from 28,000 ha in 1970s to 15,000ha in 2002 (DoSA 2002; WDI 2000). Maize is the third most widely cultivated cereal in the Gambia after millet and sorghum. Maize was introduced by Portuguese traders around 1550. However, it was not until 1980s when commercial maize production was introduced as a way to diversify food crops.

 Area harvested and production in metric tons under cereal production in the Gambia

Production of major cereal in the Gambia between 1961 to 2002. Source. FAO Agriculture statistics, FAOSTATS 2004