Malanding,
 
agreed that few Gambians depend entirely on farming and having a hard time  
of it I might add as we all know. I was not arguing against making education  
more available and affordable (how can anyone argue against that?) but rather 
to  the suggestion to invest in educating Gambians and then farming them  out 
to other countries in exchange for remittances with all the long term  cultural 
and economic ramifications that will have and those people are likely  not to 
return home.
 
This is why the need to look at some of the alternate solutions I mentioned  
will be important.
We also have to dispel the notion that educated people cannot be farmers,  
farming is not limited to peanuts and small business ownership is not  limited 
to just owning a shop around the corner selling candy and  candles. 
Educating people and then creating opportunities for them by giving them  the 
support and resources they need to create different businesses and  
ultimately jobs is the solution. The creation of businesses is the lifeblood of  any 
viable economy.
 
Jabou Joh
 
In a message dated 9/13/2006 10:42:50 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Sister  Jabou and Joe,
Its good we are taking time discussing this issue. Joe, just  a few 
stats. In 2003, about 45% of economically active population reported  
being employed, 49% of these are in agriculture and animal husbandry  
(Census 2003). In other words no more than 25% of our economically  
active population really work on the farm. During a recent visit to the  
village (Feb 2006) it dawned on me that over 90% of my cohorts(Kafo)  
were either in Kombo or outside the country. The figure is much higher  
for younger people, many of whom leave the village as soon as they get  
to 9th grade just to arrive in Kombo to realise that their only chance  
to a living is to trek across the Sahara or hitch-hike on canoes to  
Spain and Canary Islands.

Joe, few Gambians depend entirely on the  farming these days. Many would 
tell you they survive todays challenges  because of remittance from 
family members who trekked or hitch-hiked their  way to Europe and 
America. No wonder you still find fathers  and  mothers selling the last 
cow/jewelry or compound for their middle-school  dropout to risk 
everything including their life to Europe or the US.   Some Baddibunka 
man told me "in the past we travelled to Barra/Banjul or  Cassamance 
(smuggling) to make a living.We will go to Europe if we have  to." In 
sum, the drain will continue as long as it is the fastest way to a  
decent living. One that would help a Baddibunka man or a Sarahule man  
(who can't read/ write their name) feed his family and  save enough  to 
become the new landlord  in the "Tubab Banko".

Given the  above, the question  is how do we make the most of our buck 
with all  the domestic and international  variables at play?  There is no  
doubt in my mind that the farmer in Sare Mankamang Kunda would give up  
life on the farm for a college degree for his child. And whether that  
child lives in Basse, Banjul or Seatle matters very little in today's  world.


Malanding




[log in to unmask]  wrote:

>Malanding,
>
>While I agree with you that   peanut farming is not the answer to our 
economic 
>woes and I certainly  do not  have the answers, but I am just a little taken 
>aback by  your suggestion that we  train people and then farm them out for  
>employment in the West. Isn't that  worsening the brain drain  problem and 
what 
>about developing the home front if we  invest in  educating our youth and 
then 
>sending them out to go work in  other  countries?
>
>I can assure you that if I was able to  find opportunities at  home, I would 
>not have ventured elsewhere  and I have head this same sentiment  expressed 
by  
>many.
>
>Rather than framing out our youth to the West, I  think  one area that the 
>economies of African countries in  particular can be greatly  improved is if 
the 
>Western countries  like the U.S and U.K for example open up  trade and allow 
>African  goods to be exported to these countries without any of  the current 
 
>restrictions and quotas that result in imbalance of trade  against  Africa. 
Along 
>with that, rather than institutions like  the IMF and World Bank  lining the 
>pockets of corrupt governments  on the continent and sinking African  
countries 
>deeper and deeper  into debt,  and if the intention is to help  Africa as 
they  
>claim, some of those funds can be used to make capital available   to 
African 
>entrepreneurs to start businesses and to encourage Africans  to buy  African 
and 
>keep the money at home and create jobs  locally. 
>
>As someone  involved in the import/export  business, it pains me daily when 
I 
>see that all  the commodities  we use on a daily basis in Africa is imported 
 
>and even   when it comes to the procurement of those commodities, the 
various  
>African  governments who place orders for these goods bypass  African 
companies 
>in the  business to utilize outside companies  mainly because they are 
looking 
>for  kickbacks in the  transaction. In the case of Gambia, the APRC have 
>essentially   taken this business from the small business person and turned 
it into a  
>monopoly  for a select few.
>
>If you look at the U.S  government, the Small Business  Administration puts 
a 
>lot of  priority in assisting entrepreneurs to set up  businesses, from  
>providing grants, low interest loans and free services to   prepare business 
plans and 
>free mentoring from retired executives in  SCORE (  Service Corps of Retired 
>Executives)who volunteer their  services through the SBA  all intended to 
>encourage those who are  so inclined to start small businesses.  All of this 
because 
>they  realize the impact that the creation of small  businesses has on the  
>economy from increasing tax revenue to the creation of   employment 
opportunities 
>for the general public. The U.S government  also  provides many good 
incentives  
>to small businesses if  they create jobs and  they also encourage economic 
>growth in  rural areas by providing grants to  entrepreneurs through the 
community  
>development block grants program if they  will start businesses  in these 
>rural areas.
>
>Of course single crop  farming  is an evil practice that was implemented by 
>colonial  governments who basically  assigned each of the countries they  
>colonized different crops to grow which they  could then buy and  import 
into the 
>Mother country namely the U.K in our case.  When  this system was devised,  
the 
>economic well being of the  colonized  country did not feature in the 
decision. 
>Instead, it  was designed with the  intention to meet the needs of the 
colonist  
>country who only cared that they had  different providers for  what they 
needed 
>in their own economies without worrying  about  the impact on the colonized 
>country then or in the long run.  
>
>In  terms of agriculture, encouraging farmers to grow  multiple crops that 
can 
>both  be consumed at home as well as that  have a market outside the country 
>and  working to help them gain  access to these markets are other 
alternatives 
>that  can be  looked at. Getting more people interested in growing for 
example   
>vegetables and even organic herbs to name a few, and to establish  
industries  
>such as canning and freezing of vegetables and our  local fruits for export 
>etc,  and even tapping into the garment  industry in the West by assisting  
>entrepreneurs to tap into this  market by helping them to get manufacturing  
>contracts such as  are offered to people in Asia are all things that our  
government  
>can give priority to in discussions with our development  partners  instead 
of 
>taking more loans that has no impact on the  condition of  the  average 
citizen 
>in our country or  elsewhere in Africa.
>
>Also working to  change the mind set  that imported items are better than 
>locally made or locally   grown will go a long way in helping to keep money 
at home.
>
>I  believe that  there are so many ways in which economic growth can be  
>stimulated in The Gambia  and the rest of Africa without  compromising our 
own growth 
>in other areas  and  instead of  training our youth and then farming them 
out 
>with all the   accompanying negative effects that may have in our overall   
>advancement.
>
>It is certainly an excellent topic of  debate to see what  options we have 
>towards finding a solution to  this dilemma.
>
>Jabou  Joh
>
>
>In a  message dated 9/13/2006 3:06:15 P.M. Central Daylight  Time,  
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>Malanding Jaiteh   <[log in to unmask]> wrote: If one is to go by the NADD  
>Manifesto, The  Alliance's Document and the 
>statement by  SoS Touray that the APRC government  is to provide farmers 
>500  tractors, looks like Gambians are poised for the  same old, same old  
>- dump more of our hard borrowed cash into the  agriculture  basket. By 
>now it should be clear to all that the trouble in the   agricultural 
>sector is more than just lack of funding. Few would  disagree  that 
>dispite two governments, aid from two Chinas plus  the West and even  
>Iran, countless Departments of Agriculture,  projects (Mixed Farming,  
>GARD, Jahali-Pacharr, LADEP)  institutions and agencies (NARI, NADA),   
>and billion  of  Dalasi, the Gambia is neither self-sufficient in food   
>production nor has it increase earning from agriculture. Infact  the  
>contribution of agriculture to our national economy has been  on the  
>decline while all these is going on. Given the current  state of the  
>physical environment (climate and water resources)  and economic  
>environment (globalization and crop pricing), it is  hard to imagine what  
>agriculture can do for the  Gambia.
>Given the above, I would argue that it  is high time we  take a second 
>look at agriculture (represented by the Axe  and  the Hoe on our coat of 
>arm) as the engine to national  development  efforts since independence.  
>I would go a step  further to ask the  incoming government (APRC, NADD or 
>The  Alliance) to make a  "put man on  the moon" kind of declaration on  
>education. Cornerstone of this would be  immediate expansion of  the 
>University system and begining 2010 to train free  of  charge:
>
>2500 undergraduate degree and 100 graduates each year  (2010 -  2015)
>5000 undergrads and 500 graduate degrees ( after  2015)
>
>In  addition to free training, the government should  negotiate with US, 
>EU and  other large economies to help provide  these with temporary worker 
>visa. In  return the students will be  required to pay through their 
>employers 10% of  their salary  towards re-embursing the Gambia 
>government. The idea is to   borrow and invest in a product more 
>marketable than  peanuts.
>
>Some  back of the envelop calculation:
>At  the end of the fourth year, with 10000  students * $2,500  per year  
>tuition is $25,000,000 (the cost of 500  tractors)
>suppose  50% of those landed in a job in the UK or US ($35000) per  year.  
>Remittance at 10% of salary  is $3,500 * 5000 = $17,500,000.  Nay  Bad! 
>and defintely more than what we get from peanuts these  days.
>This  would not include money sent home to family and  friend, on 
>vacations  (knowing you do not have to worry about the  visa office), on a 
>retirement  house or two (every Gambians  wish).
>Infact we are losing that many to  immigration as we speak.  Just that the 
>ones we are losing now are less  prepared to  survive in Babilon, with 
>barely a driver license much more a   high school diploma to compete the 
>skilled labor from Poland or   Mexico.
>
>Perhaps I am just dreaming. Certainly I do hope its a  dream come  true.
>
>Malanding Jaiteh   
>
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
>To  unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L 
Web  interface
>at:  http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>To Search in  the Gambia-L archives, go to:  
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
>To contact  the List Management, please send an e-mail  to:
>[log in to unmask]
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
>
>   
>

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To  unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L 
Web  interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To  Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:  
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the  List Management, please send an e-mail  to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤


 

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤