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Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies

To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade

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productive inputs due to lack of credit facilities. Additionally, low bargaining power restricts the

farmers to receive reasonable prices for the products to sustain their livelihoods. There are

Government subsidies but not enough. Middlemen in the supply chain are the ones that

determine the price that the farmers will receive.

Table 4. 36 OIC Member Countries that Export to Gambia under Preferential Tariffs

African Group

Arab Group

Asian Group

Benin

Comoros

Afghanistan

Burkina Faso

Djibouti

Albania

Chad

Egypt

Bangladesh

Cote d’Ivoire

Jordan

Indonesia*

Guinea

Mauritania

Iran

Guinea-Bissau

Morocco

Kyrgyzstan

Mali

Palestine

Malaysia*

Mozambique

Somalia

Pakistan*

Niger

Sudan

Tajikistan

Nigeria

Tunisia

Uzbekistan

Senegal*

Yemen

Sierra Leone

Togo

Uganda

Source: WTO RTA Database

Note: Countries marked with an asterisk are among the top 5 OIC countries from which Gambia’s top

import products are imported. Countries written in boldface letters have a free trade agreement in force

with Gambia.

Fisheries has a high potential to create employment and improved nutrition. Fish has great

investment opportunities. There are many foreign companies (Turkish, Spanish, Chinese and

South Korean) with a focus on fish industry. There is a support from FAO for capacity

development as well as government subsidies for fish production. The main problem with

regards to fishing industry is lack of infrastructure. For instance, fish caught in the Gambian

waters are transferred to Senegal and landed in Senegal for storage and transportation. Lack of

infrastructure limits these activities to be performed in The Gambia thus limiting the

opportunities of export marketing of fish in Gambia.

In order improve supply chains, there are various initiatives. One of them is The Gambia -

Commercial Agriculture and Value Chain Management project that is initiated with support

from the World Bank in 2017. The aim is to improve productivity and access to market of

targeted agricultural commodities for smallholders in the project area. Under the Enhanced

Integrated Framework (EIF) Programme, The Sector Competitiveness and Export

Diversification Project (SCEDP) aims responding to the trade related programs. The project

provides specific support for cashew nuts, groundnuts and sesame through finding new export

opportunities and product diversification.

A problem, that is common for most least developed countries, is related to lack of opportunities

for creating value added products. The stakeholders state that the country produces raw

products and exports raw products. The value chain is weak and there is a need to improve on

creating strong value chains. Ministry of Trade and to some extent Ministry of Agriculture are

working on developing value chains.

OIC-Gambia agricultural trade relations and intra-OIC agricultural trade

The Gambia produces very few exportable agricultural products. The export products that are

produced in the country are, peanuts, cashews, sesame, horticultural products (2 large farms