President Jammeh was speaking Tuesday evening at State House in Banjul, during a meeting he held with officials of Nawec and GPA.  His comment came hard on the heels of unprecedented floods that ravaged major rice exporting countries like China and Pakistan, which affected their farmlands; as well as the recent announcement by the prime minister of Russia ,Vladmir Putin, that his country would not be exporting wheat, a situation that leaves countries that depend on Russia for this commodity in a dilemma.

"What is more alarming is that Pakistan is a major exporter of rice, and China is the biggest exporter of rice. All of those countries have severe floods that affect their farmlands. 2011 God forbid the reality is that it is going to be a very difficult year of food commodities," the president predicted, while warning that such would not be license for any dealer to buy a tone of rice at US$500 and sell it in the country at US$2000 at the expense of the average Gambian. "But the reality is that let Gambians know that next year the prices of basic commodities would go up. There would be no politics in this because it is beyond our control," he added.

The Gambian leader again urged the citizens to increase agricultural productivity and grow crops that we would consume; underscoring that it is still not too late for planting. He urged the citizens to specifically grow more food crops ahead of 2011. "Let us grow what we eat," he concluded.