By Yero S. Bah
The Young Modern Farmers is a group of Empretec-trained young entrepreneurs who came together to venture into farming, targeting mainly cassava and dwarf pawpaw production as they found out after a market research they conducted, that the two are scarce in the Gambian local market and food chain.
On June 15, 2020, Mansa Banko Online conducted an interview with the network’s Executive members at Turntable in Brusubi, to share their stories and ambitious agricultural plans afoot.
The group members were trained by Empretec-Gambia on the entrepreneurship Driven by Innovation Course. “From this, we deemed it necessary to create a business with great values where we can create jobs and contribute to the socio-economic development of the Gambia,” this medium heard.
According to the President and Chairperson of the farmers grouping, Mr. Lamin Keita, they are young entrepreneurs who want to change this country through agriculture, arguing that agriculture is a sector that is highly underutilized since “youth aren’t venturing” into it. But, he also argued that, it’s the only sector that could earn youth the much-needed employment opportunities, despite being seasonal in this country. He, however, posited that other farming styles or tools could be used to make it an all year round adventure; that there are some methods that could also be implemented to end the seasonal aspect of agriculture in this country.
Keita disclosed that a friend of theirs is allowing them to use his land in Sanyang village as part of his {friend’s} contribution to the group, which the President and Chair said is already a legally registered group.
Keita, who said he’s also engaged in sporting activities and restaurant business, disclosed that their group was able to have a deal with a Gambia-China consultant who advised them to venture into pawpaw and cassava plantation because it is a lucrative business in China; but also in high demand in the Asian country. “Chinese use pawpaw and cassava for medical purpose despite other uses,” he said.
Meantime, he further said, they had an agreement with a Gambian local businessman who is looking into opening up a cassava milling factory which will turn cassava tubers into many other finished products. And this is value addition which, he’s positive, will cater for the local and international markets.
Ms. Fatima Junkung Jammeh is an entrepreneur who is interested in using e-commerce platforms to sell and promote local Gambian brands. She joined Young Modern Farmers to basically contribute her quota to changing the mindset of youth towards agriculture, which is badly perceived by many as a business for the failed person in society.
Jammeh disclosed, “During this project, I had the passion for agriculture as I am working to having my own personal farm.”
As the Vice President of the group, Fatima believes that, entrepreneurship can be a tool to bring socio-economic empowerment for Africans; and she informed that their agenda is to uplift the continent from poverty through agriculture.
“We can use agriculture to transform our lives in Africa because we have all the resources needed on the continent,” she held. The duo hoped to have Outgrowers’ Schemes where they will empower youth through this project; purchasing their produce and sensitizing people through community outreach activities, as they intimated that, plans are in the pipeline to change the negative mentalities surrounding agriculture in the Gambia.
However, the country’s State of Public Emergency imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, has affected their activities, but the group is hoping to leverage on technology to modernize agriculture. Besides, they are ready for this year’s rainy season, saying they planned to grow cassava and pawpaw massively.
