Barrow Government Under Fire as UDP Demands Fair Groundnut Prices

Dr. Demba Sabally, Minister for Agriculture

Issued 26th November 2025

UDP Statement on 2025 Government Groundnut Price & the Plight of Gambian Farmers

The UDP moves to draw urgent national attention to the plight faced by our hardworking groundnut farmers, following the 2025 announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture/National Food Security, Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC) that the government will again purchase groundnuts from farmers at D 38,000 per metric ton for the third consecutive year in which the price remains unchanged. This was confirmed in the ministry’s latest report to the National Assembly.

While the Ministry frames D 38,000 as a “farm-gate price,” the reality on the ground is that many farmers have no alternative buyers. Private buyers and traders are effectively blocked from offering competitive prices, and exports are tightly controlled, leaving our farmers with no choice but to accept the same low price year after year.

We call on the government to acknowledge that pegging the groundnut price at D 38,000 for three years running, in the face of rising costs of inputs and inflation, amounts to a denial of fair value for Gambian farmers’ labor and produce.

At the same time this government has turned a blind eye to our farmers, it has splurged public funds on lavish and politically oriented flaunting, especially the annual Meet the People Tour under the leadership of Adama Barrow. Independent budget watchdogs have documented that between 2020 and 2024, although only D 58 million was approved for the Tour, the actual spending exceeded D 226 million, meaning an overspend of nearly D 168 million.

If the government can waste hundreds of millions of Dalasi on political theater repeatedly, why can it not fairly remunerate the backbone of our rural economy, the groundnut farmers?

This discrepancy shows clearly where the Barrow Administration’s priorities lie, which is political showmanship rather than the economic welfare of ordinary Gambians.

If elected, the UDP will reverse this neglect. Under a UDP government, we commit to:

• Reform groundnut pricing policy, ensuring farmgate price reflects real market realities, cost of living, and cost of production. We will set up a transparent, consultative system where farmers, cooperatives, exporters, and the ministry jointly agree on a fair price each season.

• Open the groundnut sector to competition, allowing licensed private buyers and exporters to purchase directly from farmers at competitive prices, preventing monopoly purchase by state-run NFSPMC.

• Support agricultural productivity; invest in improved seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, training, and mechanization so that farmers’ yields and incomes increase over time.

• Ensure financial transparency; redirect wasted funds from extravagant tours to meaningful investments. Subsidies for farmers, infrastructure, storage facilities, and export-ready processing units.

• Empower cooperatives and rural supply chains; ensure cooperatives and local “seccos” (seed-collection centers) are strengthened, properly financed, and integrated with local markets and export opportunities.

We believe that by putting farmers first, not political theater, we can restore dignity, livelihood, and hope to those who feed the nation.

The continued pegging of groundnut price at D 38,000 per metric ton for three years in a row, while the government squanders public funds on political expeditions, is a grave injustice. The Barrow Administration has shown time and again that it has no regard for the plight of our farmers.

The UDP offers a different path, one of fairness, dignity, progress, and real support for rural Gambians. We stand with every farmer who plants groundnuts, and we say enough is enough. It is time for a government that values your sweat, your soil, and your future.

Issued by, UDP Media & Communications Team