By Yero S. Bah
As the rainy season is fast approaching, Government and farmers throughout the Gambia are preparing for the farming season as they incessantly await for the heavens to open [very heavy rain started to fall].
In its drive to attain food self-sufficiency, whilst laying down national plans for the agricultural sector, depicting the paramount importance of the sector in the advancement of the Gambia; the government had came up with a National Development Plan (NDP), a blueprint for the development of the country by the president Adama Barrow-led dispensation since 2017.
On Friday May 1, 2020 Mansa Banko Online covered the annual monthly meeting of Perma-Gambia in Kartong village in the West Coast Region (WCR) in which the organization shared its aims and objectives and future plans such as site visits to agricultural centers and farmers, establishing partnerships with other communities nationwide, and working with the media as they described the media an instrumental partner in their crusade to attain food self-sufficiency in the Gambia.
Besides, individual agricultural concerned citizens and farmer-networks such as Perma-Gambia are also playing their part tremendously in paving ways and means of developing the indispensable sector so as to see the Gambia achieve food self-sufficiency as well as nutrition security in few years to come, through community participation and grassroots farming.
Perma-Gambia was legally registered in November 2019 but the organization started its activities years earlier.
According to the Executive Secretary of Perma-Gambia, Mr. Alagie Manneh, the organization is working on the Gambia achieving food and nutrition security, charging that a country with such fertile and arable land should not be importing food from other nations.
“We have all it requires in the Gambia to become food self-sufficient,” was Manneh settled view, adding that their aim is to replicate their ideas and organization in other parts of the country by organizing field trips and nationwide excursions to introduce the concept behind Perma-Gambia- which is poised to transforming agriculture in the small West African nation.
The Perma-Gambia SG disclosed that plans are underway to embark on nationwide excursions to share experiences, skills and transfer knowledge to other interested farmers around the country. Their target is to see to it that the country becomes food self-sufficient in few years to come.
Manneh admitted that the challenge is enormous, but equally maintained that with determination, “we can get to the promise land in agriculture”. He promised that the members of Perma-Gambia will reach out to VDCs, village youths, and elders of the country to exchange best agricultural practices and learn from each other’s farming styles, saying they see these activities as their contribution to nation building.
“We can meet a critical mass of the farmers in the Gambia,” intimated the Perma-Gambia chief.
Manneh opined that enterprise farming should be embraced, encouraged and practiced in the Gambia.
He believed the only way that farmers could realize their daily toils from the farms and gardens is when they are organized into powerful groups that they could as well challenge government to change its policies on agriculture.
Mr. Bakary Ceesay is a member of Perma-Gambia and his take is that, the Gambia government should come to their aid by stopping the importation of crops and fruits such as tomatoes, onions, peppers and bananas from other countries.
Ceesay also wants the locally-produced fruits and crops to be promoted by the government of the Gambia, as in his view, that is the surest way of helping Gambian farmers in getting better markets for their produce.
“We can produce enough of all these food items here if government gives us the right support,” the optimistic Ceesay argued. He told the meeting that proper measuring scales or systems should be introduced in the agricultural sector to help farmers get maximum profits from their labor.
The Perma-Gambia member went on to point out that farmers from the Senegalese region of Casamance measure and weigh everything of their produce, and that helps them to make a lot of profits from their sales. But he bemoaned that farmers in the Gambia realize less in profits from their farm produce.
Ceesay further said government should try to give out seeds and seedlings of better quality to gardeners in order for them to realize better or bumper harvests in the future.
To him, Gambian gardeners could produce enough to feed the nation provided the right materials are made available to them. He claimed that the Gambia virtually imports everything and export nothing, adding that this should not be the case today since the country has a youthful population, fertile and arable land and perfect climate for farming.
He lamented over the lack of proper markets and marketing strategies in the Gambia, pointing to the fact that most of the garden produce easily get spoiled in Kartong and Brikama.
For Mbinky Sira Touray, having a proper weighing system would improve the earnings of gardeners and farmers. Noting that their colleagues in Casamance earn far more than Gambian gardeners and farmers due to the standard weighing system they put in place, Mbinky is hopeful that if proper and standard weighing systems are not introduced in the Gambia, middlemen would benefit more than the famers and gardeners.
Mrs. Touray explained that, she was born in farming, grew up in it, and has been doing gardening to send her children to school, feed and even clothe all of them from her farming and gardening activities. She usually grow rice during the rainy season, potatoes, onions, pepper and other crops in the dry season; “I need support to fence my garden and dig well too,” she echoed.
Mr. Jorden V. Munster from the Netherlands also told Mansa Banko Online that his country “Netherlands was nothing” as it was totally destroyed during the Second World War (SWW), but the country eventually, embraced and developed small-holder farmers and gardeners to rapidly fix the ruins of the dutch nation.
According to him, the Netherlands is today one of the biggest exporter of potatoes, eggs and diary products around the world; that the Gambia could also replicate similar farming strategies and policies to achieve food self-sufficiency faster than expected. He informed that, this has helped Netherlands to grow rapidly and faster.
The dutch national recollected that immediately after the Second World War, dutch citizens asked a fundamental question as what should be their next move and majority pinpointed agriculture. Then, government stepped in to finance agricultural projects through the intervention of their Queen, he said. Munster
Munster again, “We can replicate such a farming system in the Gambia to rapidly move this country forward.” He urged also that Gambians need to push the challenges to the right authorities by forming and coming up with organized farmer-networks to obligate government to act in helping farmers and gardeners; assuring Gambians that he (Mr. Munster) is here to share “best ideas and industrialized agricultural practices” with Gambians. He stressed that Gambian farmers need to be shown farming methods, and that people need to promote systemized farming in this country.
A former Arabic teacher in Foni Katacor and President of Perma-Gambia,Mr.Sulayman Touray, said teaching is good but he saw farming as the best option. He emphasised that only people who are food sufficient could learn better and be able to worship their lords in peace and harmony. Touray has three lands in his native village of Kartong which he plans to develop into agricultural gardens. He wants to grow seedlings for sale, trees and horticultural crops in the not too distance future.
He advised that the coronavirus should be a national lesson since international borders could be closed down for months without inter-trade between countries; and that Gambians should wake up to the realities of the globe.
“I have interest in agriculture and business,” he voiced out to his audience.
The monthly meeting of Perma-Gambia ended with commitments to embark on excursions to various agricultural sites so as to exchange ideas and skills with people. They also want the establishment of more of organizations like Perma-Gambia in as many communities as possible in the Gambia, all with a view to promote food self-sufficiency and nutrition security in the country as quickly as possible.
Both members agreed that, replicating their approach to agriculture and permaculture nationwide in this time of the year would be great as the next rainy season is just at the corner, arguing that their visits would boost the morale of their farmer-colleagues and energize them in these low times.
