"If President Jammeh's 'back-to-the-land philosophy is answered, The Gambia can achieve food self-sufficiency by 2015," declared Saeid Zare, the Iranian ambassador to The Gambia.

Ambassador Zare made this remark on Wednesday during an interview with the Daily Observer at his office at the Standard Chartered building on Kairaba Avenue.

According to him, the relationship between The Gambia and Iran would not only portray a give and take relationship, but would also drive itself towards food self-sufficiency. "Twenty years ago, Iran used to import most of her food into the country, but now 80-90% of Iranian staple food are produced within the country.

Therefore with President Jammeh's back-to-the-land clarion call, The Gambia can also obtain 100% of her food from home food production. Attitudinal change is therefore required since there is adequate land with the impressive rainy season in The Gambia. Even from the Atlantic ocean, more food for both local and international consumption could be extracted," he said.

The Iranian diplomat then stated that the two nations have started to embark on several development programs, which will be instrumental to attain food self-sufficiency saying that more factories will be established in the near future to boost the Gambian economy. He used the opportunity to reiterate his commitment to strenthen the already existing cordial relations between the two nations.