The United Democratic Party (UDP) has launched a blistering attack on President Adama Barrow’s administration, accusing it of “grave injustice” toward Gambian groundnut farmers by maintaining the farm-gate price at D38,000 per metric tonne for the third consecutive year despite soaring input costs and inflation.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the opposition party described the unchanged price announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Security, Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC) as a “denial of fair value” for farmers’ labour. The UDP charged that private buyers and exporters are effectively barred from the market, leaving farmers with no alternative but to sell to the state-owned corporation at the fixed rate.
The party contrasted the government’s refusal to raise the groundnut price with what it called lavish overspending on President Barrow’s annual Meet the People Tour. Citing independent budget watchdogs, the UDP revealed that although only D58 million was approved for the tours between 2020 and 2024, actual expenditure ballooned to over D226 million – an overrun of nearly D168 million.
“If the government can waste hundreds of millions of dalasi on political theatre, repeatedly, why can it not fairly remunerate the backbone of our rural economy?” the statement asked, accusing the Barrow administration of prioritising “political showmanship” over the welfare of ordinary citizens.
Outlining its alternative vision, the UDP pledged that, if elected, it would immediately reform groundnut pricing through a transparent mechanism involving farmers, cooperatives, exporters, and the Ministry; open the sector to licensed private buyers; invest in seeds, fertiliser, irrigation, and mechanisation; and redirect funds squandered on presidential tours toward farmer subsidies, storage facilities and rural infrastructure.
Describing groundnut farmers as “those who feed the nation,” the party declared: “Enough is enough. It is time for a government that values your sweat, your soil, and your future.”
The statement, signed by the UDP Media & Communications Team, has intensified political tensions ahead of the next election cycle, with the opposition framing the groundnut price freeze as a symbol of the Barrow government’s neglect of rural Gambia.
