When Jammeh first told Gambians that we cannot continue to rely on food
imports and that we needed to grow our own food to feed ourselves, many
did not take him seriously. He even had to threaten people (the productive
age group) that they must desist from playing Nawetan and go back to the
land. This, to his critics, meant that he was trampling on
the “fundamental human rights” of these people by refusing to allow them
to continue to play around while their old and poor folks were toiling on
the farms. To his supporters however, this was exactly what they expected.
This latter group heeded his call and dully returned to the land and
farmed. The result? Well, a resounding success, you can call it.

Like I intimated some time back, in the Kuntaur area, the General Manager
of the Kuntaur rice mill reported that 50 tonnes of rice was bought in the
first month of the harvest season compared to 32 tonnes for the whole of
2002. In the LRD area, the divisional Agricultural coordinator was
recently quoted as saying that the amount of swamp rice cultivated this
year more than doubled to almost 1,000 hectares from about 460 hectares in
2002.  The amount of rain-fed rice cultivated also increased from 300
hectares to 400 hectares.

In a related development, the Technical Director of the Taiwanese mission
in the country in collaboration with Actionaid The Gambia, are to
establish more tidal irrigation systems in the CRD. New equipment would be
bought and the 80-hectare rice project at Jahally Pacharr would be
increased to about 240 hectares over the next few months.

The Njawara Agricultural training Center, a community-based initiative in
the NBD, is training farmers and youths on sustainable agro-forestry
techniques so as to improve farm productivity and profitability while
promoting sustainable natural resource management.

According to Badara Jobe, the Managing Director of the center, they offer
courses on nursery establishment, erosion control, soil fertility
management and small-scale animal husbandry. The center is equipped with a
study library and a dormitory and has an agro-forestry demonstration site.

A few days ago the head of the ITC told reporters that the average amount
of milk produced from a 65 cattle herd, has increased from about 5,000
litres to about 7,000 litres during the past 10 years. The mortality rate
among cattle has also dropped from 8% to about 6.5 % and that the average
age of cattle has dropped from about 18 months to about 13 months. This,
he said, has resulted in younger cattle, better able to resist certain
diseases.

As the adage goes, who feels it knows it. In response to a certain Suruwa
Jaiteh’s attack on the UNDP resident representative for ‘having a hidden
agenda’ and that the policy makers and beneficiaries where a ‘putty in the
hands of the UNDP”, five members of the National Environment Youth Corps
(NEYC) responded to him thus:

“About 200 of us in three divisions are in this project. Can you, Mr.
Jaiteh, give us jobs? We were out of school, unskilled, helpless and
dependent on people with no hope when the project came and gave us just
what we were longing for. Our people selected us to participate and we
will not let them down. In about 10 months, we know what the project has
achieved. We are into activities such as bee keeping, vegetable
production, environmental protection, orchard establishment and eco-
tourism.

Our produce has been sold and we and our families have benefited so
far.... The review meeting enabled us to reflect and discuss our problems
openly. Those who attended including the Vice President and SOS for
Natural Resources and Environment, appreciated the gains we have made
since the start of the project. For the first time we have seen a project
reviewed by the beneficiaries. We reviewed our achievements, that is, each
division was represented… We know we have achieved something during this
short period. At least we are earning income from D2,800.00 upwards. We
now have skills and are contributing towards environmental rehabilitation.

Scholarships for a few of us to do a certificate course in Natural
Resource and Agricultural Waste Management and Environmental Management
etc at the Gambia College, have been provided.”

Have a good day, Gassa.

--
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt)

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