Agroforestry was said to have been “formally outlined in the early 20th century” by American economic geographer, J. Russell Smith, in his book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture (1929).
Also, as per the definition by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, “Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.
“In agroforestry systems there are both ecological and economical interactions between the different components. Agroforestry can also be defined as a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels.
“In particular, agroforestry is crucial to smallholder farmers and other rural people because it can enhance their food supply, income and health.Agroforestry systems are multifunctional systems that can provide a wide range of economic, sociocultural, and environmental benefits.”
Meanwhile, a Gambian Agroforester, Mr. Hamadi Baldeh, in an interview Mansa Banko Online’s Yero S. Bah, hailed agriculture as one of the fastest ways to prosperity, emphasising that without food, one cannot do other things. He revealed that in the next five years, he wants to employ at least fifty (50) people at his garden and poultry farm, respectively.
After his graduation from high school and Songhai Agricultural Center, Baldeh, as he informed this medium, embarked on agroforestry and vegetable farming by planting seedlings, nursing and selling them to earn a decent living from this agricultural adventure, at a time when many Gambians have either lost their white-colored jobs or are working from home due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic in the country.
His pawpaw, cassava, tomato and watermelon farm is located in Tujereng Kombo South, West Coast Region. The young agroforestry entrepreneur acknowledged the market for this season “is good” as customers visit his farm to purchase harvested crops from him. Notwithstanding, he lamented the lack of proper storage facilities as a result of which his crops and vegetable usually get spoiled, frequently. He also cited the unavailability of “instant processing machines” to turn them into finished products.
Baldeh also disclosed his plans to venture into animal husbandry, as he said, “I am planning to go into the rearing of ruminants.” The Songhai graduate echoed that his business is going down well with him, but again, he admitted challenges that exist in his agroforestry business, as it’s the case in every endeavour in human life, stressing the need to tackle them, anyway.
The owner of the Tujereng-situated farm enthused: “My target in ten years is to be able to reduce the unemployment rate and supply good quality foods that will be sufficient for the country. All my products are organic crops and vegetables.” He, however, noted that due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of his customers have dwindled significantly, and the market is no longer as effective as it’s before the outbreak of the Covid-19.
The determined farmer used the opportunity to enjoin Gambians to get involved in agricultural activities, intimating that the sector is the country’s ‘economic nerve center’ which provides food and employment to Gambians, especially the youth in the Gambia.
Baldeh also appealed to the young people of this country to look inward as there are numerous things one could do to make it here, notably venturing into agriculture.
