Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
123
exporting to the European Union and Great Britain). The European Union was the leading export
destination of ground nuts, an important export product of The Gambia. However, during the
recent years, the EU increased its standards for acceptable limits of aflatoxin and now it is not
possible to reach out to the EU markets. The groundnut exports are diverted to China to be used
as animal feed. For many other products, EU is a leading export partner. For example, a key
Gambian producer and exporter of out-of-season tropical fruits and crop vegetables which
includes mangos, French beans, hot chilies, Pawpaw, lemons, eggplants, watermelons and
squashes and freshly cut flowers is Gambian Horticultural Enterprise. Its markets are primarily
to European countries such as the UK, Netherlands, France and the rest of the EU. Similarly,
Radville farms produce mangoes for the Great Britain market. Many agricultural exports are re-
exports with little added value. For example, the country exports raw cashews to India and
imports them back in labeled and packaged form. The Gambia imports many of its staple food
items. For example, rice is imported fromVietnam, USA, Pakistan; vegetable oil is imported from
Thailand and Turkey; sugar is imported from Turkey; flour is imported from France and Turkey.
For the next five years, it is possible that Great Britain would continue to be a close partner for
Gambia in addition to Turkey as well as other African OIC countries. For example, Senegal is
already a border trade country and the trade between Gambia and Senegal can be increased. The
country also has close trade ties with Morocco, Egypt, Dubai, India and China. The stakeholders
point out that there is a need to create new and premium markets to for The Gambia’s
agricultural exports, since the EU market is lost due to food safety standards.
The stakeholders express that the goodwill of the current Government is an opportunity for
enhanced trade ties between The Gambia and many other OIC countries. Also, inauguration of
Turkish Airlines direct flights into Banjul is considered to be a great opportunity for enhanced
trade ties with the OIC countries, Istanbul as a hub. The Turkish Airlines services will help open
up the market for Gambia to the Middle East, Turkey and Europe. The availability of regular
direct flights to Istanbul will also solve many problems related to logistics, shortening the time
of shipment. The stakeholders expressed opinions that enhanced OIC trade is a win-win
opportunity particularly for The Gambia. The future partners that are expressed by the
stakeholders are, Turkey, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Dubai, UAE.
The stakeholders expressed opinions that commercialization and value chain development is a
major issue. There is a need to develop facilities for food processing. Trade should be diverted
from Asia to premium markets such as the EU, where cashew, peanuts, and sesame are priority
export products whose value chains need to be improved. In order to improve value chains and
commercialize agricultural production, The Gambia Export and Investment Promotion Agency
(GIEPA) is established by the Parliament in 2010. GIEPA works for investment promotion,
business and export development, enterprise support and advocacy as a link between private
sector and the Government. Trying to find export markets for private entrepreneurs, GIEPA
complements the Ministry of Trade. The GIEPA personnel expressed concerns in relation to
access to finance for export marketing. Also, due to labeling, packaging and health standards,
producers are unable to prepare their products for exports. GIEPA also try to promote packaging
investments. Moreover, The Gambia does not have accredited laboratories and therefore entire
testing and packaging are all done in Senegal. Moreover, many of The Gambian plants (such as
Maringa, baobab, hibiscus) have potential for use in pharmaceutical industry. The opportunities
for diversification of export products as well as export markets are limited mainly due to lack of
finance, poor infrastructure and small farmers with little opportunities for access to export
markets.