By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
As the globe continues to witness daily new cases, deaths and also little recoveries of persons infected with Coronavirus Disease-2019, in short COVID-19, people residing in rural Gambia have joined others to sound the alarm on their economic situations.
Many of these rural dwellers in Gambia largely depend on their farming activities-rice cultivation, growing of vegetables and fruits- to make ends meet. They survive through their heavy manual work, under the hot sun during the dry season and, under the rainfall, during the rainy season, to economically support themselves and put food on the table.
A village called Mbayen in Niamina East District of Central River Region South (CRR South), where more than one hundred (more than 100) women and men are doing gardening, has its inhabitants today worried with the outbreak of COVID-19. These hard-working men and women, at the time of enjoying the fruits of their labour, found themselves roaming around in search of markets to sell their vegetables- onions. These gardeners grow mainly onions, peppers, cabbages, cassava, tomatoes, okras, among other crop varieties. etc. They also plant fruit trees such as cashew and oranges.
Narrating his ordeal as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, Abdoulie Mbaye, born in 1971, in Mbayen village said the pandemic has seriously affected their business, lamenting that “with the closure of the Lumos-weekly local markets, we are now not selling our onions”.
The President of the Republic, H.E. Adama Barrow, in a televised statement on 17th March, 2020 made his government’s efforts on COVID-19 prevention measures known to the general public, declaring the suspension of all public gatherings in whatever form, including Lumos-weekly local markets, for “21 days”.
With this development, the unhappy Mbayen Gardener told Mansa Banko Online that, all the onions in their garden are ripe but selling them has become a problem for them.
He suggested the provision of cool storage facilities in the rural regions to enable the farmer community preserve their vegetables properly. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, selling their farm produce was not a big problem; but today, as Mbye maintained, it has become one of the biggest challenges they are facing since their commencement of gardening in that region, seven years ago.
In The Gambia, the annual “hungry season” runs from June to August, and therefore, it’s during this time that farmers–in preparation for that difficult “Hungry season”– sell their vegetables to buy food for their households and save their income for other personal or family use.
The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in the West African region surrounded by the Republic of Senegal on all sides, but its western coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Agricultural production is the main economic activity, but it has declined throughout the ’90s as a result of several factors including poor rainfall distribution, weak marketing infrastructure, lack of access to credit (especially for the youths and women) and a limited resources base, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) document- Gambia At Glance.
The Mbayen vegetables producer didn’t hide his frustration, disclosing he’s “suffering a lot” because it’s after selling his produce that he buys food for the family. “But today, the situation is reversed,” he decried.
It’s worth noting that horticulturists in the rural Gambia have to travel to the following weekly markets (Lumos) in order to sell their vegetables: Jareng-which is held on Tuesdays; Mamut Fana–on Sundays; Kudang-Mondays; Brikamaba–on Saturdays; and Bureng-on Wednesdays.
He reiterated, “Right now, we’re facing problems with the marketing of our onions.” Mbaye said improved food security and income avails for a year-round production, but added that this has also been seriously hampered with lack of boreholes in the garden- which is more than 25 hectares.
Before the suspension of the Lumos, Mbaye apprised this medium, they were able to market their produce, explaining that when they sell their produce, they would in turn, buy food stuffs from the said weekly markets. And, this helped them to focus more on their production because they would have daily meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Mbye informed that the women in Mbayen village do take a break for three-four hours each day, allowing them to be directly involved in food preparations and feeding of their families.
In averting similar future occurrences, Mbaye wants the government of The Gambia to help them with boreholes, storage facilities, and vehicles for the transportation of their vegetables.
Another Mbayen native, Fatou Seck, hinted that COVID-19 is an indication that farmers need to produce more food and also put up storage facilities to preserve their produce.
FAO’s ‘Gambia At Glance’ indicated that income from agriculture and other source is limited often due to insufficient output marketing opportunities. Poor rural households have to bridge a food deficit period between 4-6 months, generally in the rainy season.
