By Ousman Seckan
Buzz Women Gambia has recently signed a water project for the enhancement of water supply at the Sukuta Women’s garden, and also presented 4 bags of rice seedlings, 38 bags of fertilizer, 10,000 cassava stems, some potatoes stems, and beans to the women gardeners of Fass Chabai and Kombo Gunjur.
The EUR 45,000 (forty-five thousand euros) project, as pointed out by the officials, is meant to support the various women groups in West Coast Region (WCR) amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Addressing the event which brought together scores of people at the Buzz Women Gambia Office in Brusubi, the National Coordinator of Buzz Women Gambia, Madam Fatou Touray Cham, informed that the project would create more socio-economic impacts, so that women would be independent in decision-making and be able to find ways to make a better living. She recalled that when the pandemic started, they thought of doing something different for women since many of them are into micro-businesses which are affected.
“We put our funds into two aspects, one we look at long-term investment to create a sustainable impact. When we went to the community of Fass Chabai, we engaged the people we trained but realized that, that community is relatively very dry, not much economic activity is going on there. So, we engaged them and they said they need cassava and others. We engaged the Alkali for the allocation of land to the women. We also trained 57 women at Fass Chabai,’’ National Coordinator Touray-Cham explained.
She said the women at Sukuta garden bemoaned shortage of water, while Gunjur women gardeners (Mban mbanta) complained of flooding during the rains. The Buzz official further said all the concerns were noted during their engagements with the women gardeners and are set to be addressed.
The Officer-in-Charge of Horticulture Unit at National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Mr.Tom Senghore outlined that the provision of water to Sukuta women gardeners, provision of seeds and fence to women of Fass Chabai and the provision of rice seeds to Gunjur ‘Mban Mbanta’ are steps in the right direction.
“Without water there can’t be Agriculture. This is why Buzz empowers women to be able to sustain themselves when it comes to development. The women will able to produce for themselves and also have something for sustenance.
“Buzz Gambia is in the right direction as it has sustainable agriculture in place by supporting people with materials for their development,’’the NARI Horticultural official told the gathering.
Representatives of the beneficiary women groups expressed profound delight over the gesture, while saluting Buzz Women Gambia for the impacts it’s making on their lives and livelihoods.
Buzz Women Gambia is a non-profit organization that equips low-income women with financial, entrepreneurial and leadership skills that would help them combat poverty in order to create a thriving, self-sufficient, and self- reliant rural community, with confident, financially secured women who are community influencers and decision-makers.
