Editorial

Gambian youths have done it again. Their donation of some 35.5 tones of farm produce collected from the district youths through the Youth Ministry to the NDMA for onward distribution to families affected by the current food crisis is a show of collective commitment on their part to continue partaking in national development.

We commend them for the initiative and hope that they keep up the momentum particularly in the coming farming season. No matter how little, any contribution towards mitigating the food crisis will not go unnoticed and would have longlasting impact.

Gambian youths have indeed proven that they form the core treasure of the nation. An enterprising youth population accelerates its nation's development processes. On the contrary, a dependent youth population is a burden; it hinders progress, and contributes to the shaping of a failed state. This is surely not what The Gambia wants to settle down for, hence its stance on the development of a skillful youth population.

We hope that other youth organisations would emulate the national youth initiative.The country is endowed with vast arable land for agriculture. We also have a youthful populace that has the capacity as well as the potential to till the land for food production. More importantly, we have a leader who has the desire to transform this country into an agro-based food self-sufficient nation.

Suffice to say, agriculture plays a pivotal role in the socio-economic transformation of every society, whether directly or indirectly.The more vibrant the agricultural sector of a society is, the easier it attains development. The sector provides the people with both food and income, which are major requirements for social progress.

We further wish to once again seize this opportunity to organisations and partners to come forward to complement national efforts in this food crisis.This is a time for great compassion and generosity and no one particularly entrepreneurs can afford to be left out. As a matter of fact, without compassion this world would be a hard and very lonely place to live in.

The spirit of compassion gets all of us connected; thus hard and difficult times become much easier, because people understand and care about the welfare of others. Therefore, by complementing the efforts of government to provide food to Gambians , you are in effect helping yourself.

After all, Food is an essential part of living. Among all human activities eating undoubtedly has the greatest effect on health! After breathing, eating is what we do most frequently during a lifetime. Food is the key to survival and survival is the foundation of life. And it is life that produces development.

We therefore cannot afford to have The Gambia go short of grain. All hands must be on deck in complementing the efforts of the government to bail the country out of this looming food crisis. We once again applaud the youth of the country for living up to our founding principles and for responding to the government’s plea. We also hope that others will soon follow suit.