By Yero S. Bah
Agricultural data shows that over 75% of the Gambians are involved in agriculture, in one way or another; and that most citizens earn their living through agricultural activities in the country.
This painted a vivid picture of how important the sector is to nation building, food and nutrition security for the country. And the negative mindset of young Gambians towards agriculture is now fading away as many of the country’s youthfolk are gradually embracing the sector by becoming agropreneurs within the last ten (10) years.
One such young Gambian is one Omar Bojang, an ex-army officer who joined agriculture after serving the Gambian army for nine years. He is now practicing home-gardening at his residence in Brikama Layout. The former soldier told Mansa Banko Online that he ventured into agriculture after contemplating on what adventure to embrace after quitting the Gambian Armed Forces, which he joined in 2007. He later settled for agriculture following a visit to the Southern Senegalese region of Casamance where he saw gardens and farms from which people earn huge sums of money for a living.
In addition to his home garden, Bojang is also running another garden in his native village, Bwiam in Foni Kansala of West Coast Region. He initially started his agriculture business-Turkey poultry birds- few years before actually ending up as a tree-planter and seller. He confessed that life before agriculture was not up to standard knowing the meager salaries that some white-collar job employees earn in the Gambia.
Bojang added that ever since he joined the agricultural business, life has drastically changed for the better for him and his family. Noting that mostly people see agriculture as a dirty field or not too civilized a profession, the former military man held, it’s out of sheer ignorance that people consider the sector that way. He said that’s one reason why most of the fruits are coming from Casamance into the Gambia-which should not be the case.
Bojang is also a HTC graduate from the Gambia College where he studied agriculture. “I could have got into the classroom to teach agriculture but I chose gardening over teaching,” he told this medium in an interview. His target for the next rainy season, as he indicated, is to raise seedlings of up to 20,000 or 30,000 of various trees and vegetables, noting that he could raise up to 100,000 trees if the needed funds and other support such as borehole and land are available. He, however, laments over the lack of support and high cost of water bills from NaWEC.
Bojang again: “I sometimes pay 2,000 on water bills to NAWEC, on monthly basis. It is expensive.” He emphasized that he’s doing all this so as to play his part in nation building, opining that people have the right to criticize government but they ought to do something before they could direct criticisms to the national government.
The HTC holder recalled that, the beginning wasn’t easy at all, but he started small and pushed to his current stage. He said getting nylon bags isn’t easy but he collects used materials to plant his seedlings, saying that helps in the fight against environmental pollution, and effectively contributes his quota to mitigating climate change. Bojang said 70 to 80% of all his garden materials are from the dumpsite.
He explained that, he used to buy his seedlings and other trees from Casamance, but he eventually developed his own garden in Brikama where he grows all kinds of trees such as cola-nut trees, date trees, mangoes, pawpaw, guava, citrons, lemons, almond trees, and many other varieties of trees, some of which are totally alien species in the Gambia as they were brought by missionaries from Canada, such as the “Millennium Tree of Hope” which was imported and planted in the Gambia back in 2000.
The ambitious gardener demystifies the notion that trees like cola-nut and date trees cannot survive in the Gambia, informing that he had planted thousands of them and already sold many of them to other farmers in the country. “These trees are doing well in the Gambia,” Bojang maintained. He, however, said most farmers in the country lack the knowledge in agriculture, observing that some farmers use mosquito repellant spread or other deadly chemicals to spread their plants and trees. He cautioned that this could easily kill their seedlings or plants or could contaminate such trees even after fruiting. “Sometimes people consume fruits from such trees which can cause unknown diseases like cancer and other health complications,” the ex-soldier-turned gardener added.
He discourages farmers from using inorganic fertilizers but rather organic fertilizers as they are more environmentally friendly but also healthier for consumption purposes. The HTC agriculturist explained the various fertilizers that farmers could apply on their plants and seedlings, inter alia banana peels, water from boiled eggs and even egg cells themselves, as he said they could be used for folios spreads on plants and seedlings for rapid plant growth. Such fertilizers are full of potassium and calcium, respectively which plants need a lot, argued Bojang.
Expounding on the issue of the climate change, Bojang intimated that “we only have this planet to live in, if we destroy it then people are destroying themselves”, adding that humans breathe out carbondioxicite which is consumed by the trees; whilst plants emit oxygen which human needs to survive. “People live hand-in-gloves-with the planet,” he reminded all and sundry.
He, therefore, called on market-goers to utilize reusable materials for the purpose of safeguarding their environment, pointing out that people need to be cognizant of three key environmental issues, to wit: “recycling, reusable and reduction” of waste products in the Gambia.
On income generation, Bojang that it really depends on the business of the day, as sometimes he could earn up to ten thousand (D10,000) while other days he earns nothing for a whole day. But he noted that his business does better during the rainy season since it is the peak time for tree planting exercises in the Gambia.
Living in the coronavirus era, Bojang lamented that it is affecting his business too, stating that transportation becomes difficult and expensive; sometimes customers would place orders but getting to them on time becomes a nightmare since his personal car got a breakdown few months ago.
With regards to marketing, Bojang is using Facebook and other online platforms to transact his daily businesses, as he divulged that all his transactions are done online.
About his vision in few years to come, the ex-soldier intends to sensitize citizens about the importance of farming and the protection of the environment. He told Mansa Banko Online that he hopes to see The Gambia enjoying food and nutrition security in five or 10 years’ time.
