The National Assembly member for Banjul South, Honourable Baboucarr S Nyang, has congratulated The Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, on his recent appointment as the new chairman of the Africa Rice Centre, saying that he deserves the position.

The Banjul South member was speaking last Tuesday at the National Assembly during the adjournment debate in its third meeting in the 2009 legislative session. The president, according to him, is an exemplary leader, who continually demonstrated to the world the value of  going back to the land. "The entire world is watching his exemplary manner. So for him to be appointed to this position by the authority of the Africa Rice Centre is really commendable," he said. It can be recalled that the president since taking over the mantle of leadership in 1994, has been promoting the back-to-the-land call, with the principal objective of ensuring that people are food self-sufficient, as well as eat what they grow.

Since then, the president himself has been in the forefront of the anti-hunger crusade, and has been physically involved in farming, as could be attested to the fact of the number of farms he cultivates in his native village of Kanilai. He then reiterated the priority the president  has shown in rice cultivation over the years, especially Nerica, noting that this has gone a long way in inspiring many people to grow this highly consumable variety in large scale.