State House, Banjul, 25th October 2022: President Adama Barrow commended the Republic of Korea for its commitment to supporting The Gambia in its efforts to become food self-reliant. He made the remarks when he received Mr. Chaeho Cho, Special Envoy of the South Korean President, His Excellency Yoon Suk-yeol, at the State House on Monday, 24th October 2022.
The Gambian leader told Special Envoy Chaeho Cho that since 2017, his government had sought partnerships to help realise its food self-sufficiency and security agenda. He said, “nobody imports groundnut or coose because we produce enough, but we import 83% of the rice we consume. So we want to industrialise to produce rice twice or three times annually.” The President expressed his determination to support the private sector for sustainable rice cultivation to realise food security.
President Barrow assured the Korean delegation that his government is committed to supporting the private sector in rice cultivation to certify the Gambian market. He observed that The Gambia is affected by external factors in the importation of rice but needs internal control using innovative ideas.
He thanked the Republic of Korea government for the “important and good partnership” in sectors that are crucial in the government’s national development drive.
The special envoy, Mr. Chaeho Cho, said the Korean government is committed to building capacity for The Gambia to modernise its agriculture sector to ensure food self-sufficiency. He said, ‘‘The Korean government will help The Gambia in all aspects to ensure that food self-sufficiency in The Gambia will increase’’. He noted that Public-Private partnership is important in ensuring the success of this project.
The Republic of Korea is partnering with the QGroup in piloting the cultivation of 1000kg of rice seeds which was distributed to farmers to try on 20 hectares of land.
On his part, the CEO of QGroup, who doubles as the Korean country Consular, Mr. Muhammed Jah, said the private sector would play a significant role in the implementation and success of the project. He expressed that the Private sector is not competing with the government but instead supporting the government’s development aspirations.
The Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Demba Sabally, and the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Honourable Seedy Keita, both thanked the Korean government for its support to modernise agriculture production in The Gambia and commended President Barrow for his resilience and commitment to improving the lives and livelihoods of Gambians through food self-sufficiency.
