By Ousman Seckan
Women gardeners of Tambana Village in Jokadu, North Bank Region, are in urgent need of help as the borehole providing freshwater for their five-acres vegetable garden, recently got intruded by saltwater, thereby affecting their crops.
The intrusion of saline in the freshwater, as the women gardeners explained to Mansa Banko Online, is due to the excessive drilling of the borehole, which resulted in stunt growth of vegetables with leaves falling off and wilting even though the soil appears adequately moist.
The leader of the women gardeners, Ms.Fatou Ceesay, stressed that the sudden change of the freshwater is a considerable concern to them, reasoning it’s affecting their vegetables at the moment.
‘’We have fault in the drilling of our borehole as it was excessively drilled which resulted in the intrusion of salt water, recently. Our vegetables were in good form, but the moment the fresh water became contaminated by salt, they started dying gradually. This has hindered our work a lot,’’ Ceesay lamented on behalf of the affected gardeners who called for urgent intervention.
Demanding for ready market for their vegetables, the Tambaba female gardener explained: “This year, some of us were able to get more than one hundred (100) bags of onions, but market for our vegetables has been a serious problem. When we take our vegetables to the open market, middle women don’t often buy them in the morning, but [they} would wait until late in the evening when we are already despaired and eager to go home, [then they] bargain to pay half of the price of the vegetables.
“In this situation, we are normally left with no option other than selling the vegetables for low prices as we have children to feed and care’’.
The leader of Tambana women gardeners called on Gambian women to continue to strive hard as men cannot provide all their needs for them. Madam Ceesay continued: “We Gambian women should continue to work harder as the house can only be comfortable when people work. If a man gives you, you shouldn’t also sit and fold your hands, things would not work in the house. We cannot depend entirely on men, but as partners, we should also strive to support the family.’’
Commenting on the significance of horticultural gardening, Arabiatou Jammeh, smilingly told this medium: “This work is very good and it’s beneficial to me. I don’t buy what I harvest from the garden, from anyone else.”
According to the gardeners, Poor road network, intrusion of salt water, networking with other vegetable gardeners in other regions– so to know the prices of vegetables in the market– are serious challenges to their work. They called for urgent support to address the pressing salinity problem in their gardens where they gain their livelihoods.
