By Yero S. Bah
Tourism and agriculture are two key Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contributors into the Gambian economy. According to statistics, tourism contributes about 27% to the country’s GDP while 75% of Gambians are into agriculture in one way or another and they earn their living through the sector in this country.
This situation explains the indispensable role that these two sectors play in the country’s development process as youths are beginning to embrace some sub-sectors of agriculture such as permaculture-an agricultural term that is frequently used in the West but hardly known in countries like the Gambia.
However, young Gambians like Alagie Manneh of Kartong are spearheading the “win of change” in altering the narratives on permaculture in the Gambia, especially in his native village of Kartong in Kombo North District, West Coast Region, as he had an exclusive interview with Mansa Banko Online newspaper on Sunday April 26, 2020 in Kartong at his garden.
Manneh formed an association and runs a center where he offers training and mentorships on permaculture, the branch of agriculture that teaches about putting permanent structures which supports and promotes ecology and friendly-ecotourism facilities to nurture the natural environment.
Upon graduation from GTTI with a diploma in procurement, Alagie joined Sandally Hotel in Kartong. He explained that, it is common in the Gambia that citizens always work for foreign investors, but he laments that low wages and poor salaries are challenges that Gambians continue to face from these investors. That was one of the reasons why he quitted his Sandally hotel work, as he held that his input was more than his earnings at the end of the day. “My work was greater than my benefits,” he told this medium.
From there, he began to develop some new thoughts about ecotourism and agriculture and their relation to the communities and the environment. He continued that, thanks to the trainings he underwent, he came across the term permaculture which enticed him more into doing agriculture. This term is common in the West but not in the Gambia, said Manneh, noting it is dealing more with agricultural and the environmental sustainability.
He alleged that there was frequent anger amongst the staff at Sandally hotel due to poor salaries and lower wages but moreover, the foreign investor never explained his vision for the community.
According to Manneh, the investor further divided the people of the village, and he (Manneh) didn’t want to get involved in that situation.
“Foreign investors contribute to environmental and ecological degradations as well as fragmentation of communities into factions,” he opined.
He said life before agriculture was more of running from one place to another looking for employment for years without success, even though he graduated with a Diploma in Procurement from the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI)-one of the best technical training centers in the country. Recalling that, at the time most Gambian offices lacked the knowledge of the importance of procurement, he noted that it’s just now that things have started changing in the country about procurement. Gambians weren’t aware of the significance of procurement officers and roles in their offices, as he said.
“I hope companies would start to realize the importance of procurement in the successes of their businesses,” posited Manneh, who said since he joined agriculture, he has seen some tremendous improvements in his life. That it helped him to travel to many European and Asian countries such as United Kingdom and India, and further exposed him to lot of experiences and skills in ecotourism, permaculture and mainstream agriculture.
He continued to say that ecotourism is about people and their relationships with their culture and nature; that it is from nature that people get their living. Therefore, they advocate for ecotourism instead of mass tourism in their area, in his words.
“We don’t want mass tourism in our area which is more of flamboyancy,” added the Kartong native. Manneh believes agriculture needs modernization before youths in the country would embrace it fully.
Noting people see it as a poor man’s job, the former hotel worker-turned-farmer also said Gambians don’t see agriculture as potential career or business venture. But he was quick to add that they inherited such negative notions of the sector from their parents since most of them practiced subsistence farming and mostly, were seen to be poor in the communities.
Manneh argued that people need farmers daily as they must eat every day; “you may only seek the services of a doctor when you get sick or consult a lawyer whenever you run into conflict with the law, but a totally different case for farmers as people need food daily to survive”. To him, farmers are the most important people in society.
His initial ambition was to travel to Europe just like many other Gambian youths but his thoughts about Europe changed when, as he recalled, he first stepped in United Kingdom in 2015. He charged that there is an illusion about Europe in Africa and that needs to change, explaining that as blacks it is quite hard to fit into the imperial systems in Europe since the countries are not the same and Europe is too technological.
The permaculturist came into contact with the Global Youth Innovation Network Gambia Chapter, in short GYIN Gambia Chapter, in 2019 from Facebook when he was browsing and then came across an advertisement on Youth Mentorship Programme on Enterprise Management.
He applied for the six months programme and was successfully selected to be among 60 other
young with funding from the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP). During the six months programmes, he was successfully trained on key records keeping and enterprise management skills on how to successfully run and manage an enterprise.
Manneh vouched that GYIN Gambia is doing a lot in sensitizing youths, particularly rural youths about agriculture and inculcating entrepreneurship mindsets in these youngsters across the country, while painting GYIN Gambia as “stars in the horizon” for rural youths in the Gambia.
He reported also that his experience at GYIN Gambia training was great, exposing him to different entrepreneurs and fantastic ideas within a short period of time.
The youth led network is connecting Gambian youths to limitless opportunities in partnership with the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP).
On challenges, Manneh cited lack of water as a major issue because he uses a well to fetch water in order to water his crops and plants on daily basis, lamenting it as time consuming and energy demanding.
He also needs some capital to expand his garden and productivity, to put up some classroom structures and other facilities to facilitate his training and mentorships lectures in the future.
“I need philanthropists to come to my aid in erecting these facilities,” he stressed.
On his advice to the youths of the Gambia, he had this to say: “We need to change our mindsets about the West that is both illusive and morally problematic in Africa. Europe is not as we take it to be.” Manneh believed the rise and fall of Africa depends on African youths, maintaining that the continent will only be built by African youths and not by politicians.
Alagie Manneh runs a garden where he planted oranges, cassava, varieties of flowers, pawpaw, and cashew and mangoes. He’s hoping to turn his farm into a permaculture training and mentorship center in the long run.
His message to the African masses is that, “African politicians will not develop you.”
