Gambian women vegetable farmers have been enjoined to diversify their production system for better marketing opportunities of their produce.
This exhortation was made by Mr. Foday Jadama, the Regional Agriculture Director of Central Rive Region North (CRR/N), who also advised them to avoid, all of them, producing the same varieties of crops at the same time, as this “phenomenon” creates a marketing problem for their produce, due to abundant supply of the same crops in the market.
The Regional Director was speaking at Kuntaur Regional Agriculture Directorate in CRR, during the recently concluded nationwide seed distribution exercise conducted by the Horticulture Technical Services Unit of the Department of Agriculture. It was made possible thanks to the support of the Japan Kennedy Round 2 Project (KR2).
Re-echoing the need for the women farmers to diversify their production system, Jadama cited poultry production and animal husbandry as lucrative ventures that would earn them good market.
Dilating on the provision of the vegetable seeds to the farmers, the Regional Agric Director explained that the seeds are provided to supplement what they had gained from the last rainy season. He pointed out that the seeds are part of a huge assistance “package” from the government of Japan, among which are power tillers, milling machines and threshers.
With over 50 gardens in his region, and in view of the fact that the seeds at hand would not be enough for all, Jadama told his audience that “only 15 gardens, 3 from each of the 5 districts are carefully selected to benefit from the assistance”.
He mentioned some of the standards set for the selection of the said gardens, inter alia, a well-functioning garden with adequate water supply and proper fencing.
For his part, the Chief of Niani District, Mr. Pierre Bah thanked the two governments for alleviating the suffering of women, as he observed that over 70% of assistance in agriculture is being allocated to women.
The District head seized the opportunity to implore the beneficiaries to take ownership of the materials provided to them, for sustainability. Chief Bah assured the Department of Agriculture that he would personally make a follow up on farmers in his District to ensure that they use the seeds for their purposes.
The Niani Chief further vowed to apprise his colleague Chiefs in other districts, about the distributed seeds.
