By Momodou Gagigo
The National Livestock Owners Association has called for tighter controls at the Abuko Central Abattoir, warning that weak tracking and poor documentation could allow stolen cattle to enter the formal meat supply chain.
Association President Ebrima O. Jallow urged the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency (GLMA), the Department of Livestock Services, livestock market authorities and traditional leaders to strengthen coordination so that every animal is documented, verified and cleared before it enters the abattoir or is slaughtered.
Jallow said livestock movements must be traceable from the point of origin through the market and, finally, to slaughter.
“Any animal that is going in and out should be properly checked, and any animal to be slaughtered needs to go through the right process,” he said.
Stronger controls at the country’s main abattoir, he argued, would help authorities establish the origin and ownership of animals and could reduce cattle theft.
“We are calling on the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency to properly manage the abattoir so that everything that is there will also be declared.”
Jallow stressed that the burden cannot rest with the GLMA alone. The abattoir and livestock markets, he said, require joint oversight.
“The abattoir and the livestock market, there should be a coordination. Both the market, the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency, and also the Department of Livestock Services—they all have a stake in the abattoir.”
The Association is also pressing for stronger documentation at community level. Jallow called on alkalos to ensure that animals leaving their villages travel with proper attestations, saying gaps in those papers make it harder for investigators to trace animals in suspected theft cases.
“Some alkalos are not using the proper attestation, and that is also giving tough time to investigation or the cases that we have, so that people will be able to understand the origin of those animals.”
He said livestock movements should be backed by two documents: a movement permit from the Department of Livestock Services and an alkalo attestation.
“We want proper documentation to reduce this cattle theft.”
Jallow commended the Gambia Police Force for working with the Association against cattle rustling.
“The National Livestock Owners Association, in collaboration with the Gambia Police Force, is actually doing a very significant operation—an important operation—to try to curb the issue of cattle rustling in the country.”
He said the Association’s work also extends beyond The Gambia, particularly where livestock crosses into Senegal. According to Jallow, the group has been working with Senegalese authorities on cases around the North Bank Region, but effective documentation remains essential to controlling cross-border movement.
He further called for every animal presented at Abuko to be assessed and recorded before slaughter, and for meat leaving the facility to be checked and verified.
The Association says closer coordination among livestock owners, alkalos, markets, the GLMA, the Department of Livestock Services and the police would improve traceability and make it harder for stolen animals to pass through legitimate channels. Jallow urged the authorities responsible for the abattoir to tighten management and monitoring, saying the aim is to protect livestock owners and cut cattle theft nationwide.
