By Mariama Jallow
Mpowering Agricultural Youth Development Association, a new organisation formed in 2019, had from from 17 to 19 January, 2020, held a food processing training for over 90 students of The Gambia College School of Agriculture.
The association is a youth voluntary body formed in by Burry Tunkara with idea of improving market standard of agriculture, promoting locally-made home food, adding value to agricultural products as well as reducing post-harvest losses through practical.
Madam Burry Tunkara, the Coordinator and the Founder of the Association, explained how the idea of forming the Association came about. She indicated that it’s a dream that she had been nurturing for a long time; to come up with a development initiative that could empower youths of this country to become self-sufficient.
The three days training, funded by Gambia’s Drug Law Enforcement Agency [DLEA], was convened at The Gambia College School Campus in Brikama West coast Region.
The aim was to empower youths to become self-sufficient and reliant, and also developing their capacity in enquiring useful knowledge in order to enhance their meaningful contribution to national development. Also, it’s to dissuade the youthfolk from embarking on irregular migration and discourage acts that are illegal.
Madam Tunkara commended students for responding to the invitation, disclosing the target was 70, but due to the important nature of the event, everybody wanted to attend and they received over 90 students. Thus, she believed that shows how committed the college students are.
The Association head noted that youths constitute the majority of the Gambia’s population, and that in line with the National Development Plan, her Association deemed it fitting to conduct it first training activities for the Gambia College youths.
Promising that many other training programmes, field visits and practical’s would follow, the Mpowering boss commended the DLEA for funding and making the activity possible.
The practical aspect of the training was conducted by Ms. Haddy Kebbeh, an expert in food processing.
During the three days, participants were exposed to different food processing skills ranging from groundnut processing, pepper, ginger, jitter, wanjo{Hibiscus juice}, among other items, to add value to the products.
Also speaking on the occasion, the principal of the Gambia College, Mr. Abubacarr Jallow expressed delight at seeing his students start thinking how to add value to products that would be produced from their farms.
“This is what Gambia has been lacking,” Principal Jallow decried, adding that most of the time the farmers just sell the raw produce without adding any value. Consequently, he lamented, farmers get lesser prices for those produce, after doing the hardest work as far as production is concerned.
The head of College underlined that value addition through processing is very important because the processing period normally takes a lesser time, and lesser efforts than the productions period. But the output or the income as far as the processing of goods are concerned, is far greater than the raw materials that are produced at the farms, as indicated by him.
Jallow posited that it’s important as students of Agriculture to start thinking about the transformative process of changing the country’s raw materials into products that are valuable and could be sold and consumed both in and outside of the local markets, in the neighbouring countries. He commended the organisers of the event for transforming the way the youths think as agriculturists.
The head of School of Agriculture, Mr. Saidy, and the Coordinator of the National Women Farmers Association, Njaga Jawo also spoke at the event, and emphasized more on the importance of value addition food. They also challenged the students to make the best use of the knowledge gained during the training and share it with friends.
