{"id":91137,"date":"2025-12-01T17:29:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism"},"modified":"2025-12-01T18:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:46:39","slug":"agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture Minister Defends Groundnut Price Amid Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Agriculture Minister Demba Sabally on Friday defended the government\u2019s decision to set the 2025\u201326 groundnut purchasing price at D38,000 per ton, pushing back against mounting criticism from opposition figures and radio commentators who say the rate shortchanges farmers.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a stop on President Adama Barrow\u2019s \u201cMeet the People Tour,\u201d Sabally said detractors were misleading the public by suggesting that a future administration could pay as much as D100 per kilo, a price he called unrealistic given regional and global market conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Sabally argued that neighboring countries have not adjusted their own prices from last year and that The Gambia\u2019s offer remains comparatively favorable. While countries such as Mali maintain lower rates, he said, critics continue to \u201cpoliticize\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n<p>According to the minister, the international market price for groundnuts is below D25,000 per ton, far short of the rate set by the Barrow administration. The government, he said, is deliberately paying above market value \u201cto support farmers,\u201d adding that President Barrow \u201cwould willingly pay D100 per kilo if it were financially viable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabally said the state loses money on each ton purchased, earning no more than D25,000 per ton when reselling. The difference\u2014roughly D15,000 to D18,000 per metric ton\u2014is absorbed by the government as a subsidy, he said. Fertilizer subsidies also continue, with the state covering D1,800 per bag.<\/p>\n<p>He told residents of the West Coast Region that the government spent D1.4 billion last year to make fertilizer accessible and an additional D1.5 billion to finance groundnut purchases. These expenditures, he said, reflect the administration\u2019s commitment to rural communities and the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n<p>The criticisms over this year\u2019s pricing come as the groundnut trade season begins, a period that traditionally carries significant political and economic weight in the country\u2019s predominantly agrarian regions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Agriculture Minister Demba Sabally on Friday defended the government\u2019s decision to set the 2025\u201326 groundnut purchasing price at D38,000 per ton, pushing back against mounting criticism from opposition figures and radio commentators who say the rate shortchanges farmers. Speaking during a stop on President Adama Barrow\u2019s \u201cMeet the People Tour,\u201d Sabally said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-91137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Agriculture Minister Defends Groundnut Price Amid Criticism - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Agriculture Minister Demba Sabally on Friday defended the government\u2019s decision to set the 2025\u201326 groundnut purchasi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agriculture Minister Defends Groundnut Price Amid Criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Agriculture Minister Demba Sabally on Friday defended the government\u2019s decision to set the 2025\u201326 groundnut purchasi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T17:29:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T18:46:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764601773.818545.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Agriculture Minister Defends Groundnut Price Amid Criticism\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T17:29:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-01T18:46:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764601773.818545.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/agriculture-minister-defends-groundnut-price-amid-criticism\",\"name\":\"Agriculture Minister Defends Groundnut Price Amid Criticism - 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