Saiks,

Thanks for your input concerning agriculture and how to improve it for the benefit of all. However, I believe you missed the point I was making when I wrote the following, which you quoted but wrongly interpreted. I wrote:

"His reference to President Jammeh's call for our youths to return to the land is also quite appropriate here. This is so because when Jammeh tells us to return to the land he is not referring to those who are already there. He is referring basically to those without the skills or education to compete for the limited jobs in the GBA but who, nontheless, would rather be roaming about our streets and doing nothing gainful."

By the above, I was not, and neither was Dr. Edgar or president Jammeh, suggesting that we did not have enough people to till the land. We could not have come to that conclusion for the simple reason that anybody who knows a little bit about our country knows that well over 70% of Gambians are involved in the agricultural sector and, in most cases, these people are involved in subsistence farming. We also know that for Gambians to produce more, not only would mechanization be needed but research and a change of attitude would also be needed. Now Saiks, you as well as most Gambians, know that the archaic farming implements, farming methods, land use and soil management that has been the hullmark of agriculture in The Gambia since time immemorial, can never feed us sufficiently. To further buttress this point, I will restrict myself, atleast for now, to the issue of mechanization, land use and change of attitude. This time when you respond to this piece please let's keep away from too much theory and hypothetical situations and cases, but instead concentrate on The Gambia and The Gambia alone. You may throw in examples here and there to buttress your point or show us how we can learn from those examples.

A. The mechanization of agriculture in The Gambia - my personal view.

In my honest opinion, the use of technology in agricultural production in The Gambia is not as simple as some would want us to believe. My reasons for saying so are only based on a layman's common sense interpretation of what prevails here in practice. These are:

1) We can not engage in full-fledged mechanised farming involving many because we do not have the land.

2) The limited land that we have belongs to a lot of people and the way some acquired these lands makes it very difficult to part with them.

3) The land we have is not as arable as some would like to make us believe. You mentioned rice being grown around Gambia high school in the 70s. This land is nothing compared to the arable rice land that we've lost, over the years, due to saline intrusion. These lost lands is what is being recovered gradually.

4) Not many people have the resources to acquire all the machines and other equipments and necessary inputs to successfully engage in commercial mechnized farming in a serious way. I also strongly believe that most Gambian farmers lack the know-how to maintain these equipment or successfully run such farms.

5) Even if we have a few farmers with the know-how and necessary capital to engage in commercial mechanized farming in a big way, would it benefit the majority of Gambians? I will answer this question with an emphatic NO! In my honest opinion, if these were to happen, these new breed of farmers would use their surplus wealth to buy out more and more farmland from ordinary farmers who cannot compete with them. They will use inducement and, if necessary, outright thuggery and intimidation to acquire land they want. The end result would be a handfull of farmers owning all arable land just like it used to be in Zimbabwe. These subsistence farmers, who out of desperation, sell their farmland to these new breed of farmers would end up competing for limited jobs that might be available on these farms. In other words, they will not only be poor, they would be landless as well.

6) I will not dispute the fact that these new breed of farmers would produce more than enough to feed us. If, for example, these new breed of farmers choose to go into rice farming or something that Gambians eat, they would sure produce plenty.  But would it mean cheaper rice or other foodstuff for Gambians? My answer is an emphatic NO! They would rather export the surplus elsewhere for higher profits or diversify into something more rewarding, but of very little use to ordinary Gambians like growing Tobacco, as prevails in Zimbabwe. In my opinion the only beneficiaries would be these new breed of farmers themselves, the government, other businesspeople and a stronger Dalasi. The ordinary Gambian would be worst off!

6) The variety of foodstuffs that we have now would all but disappear as these new breed of farmers would most likely concentrate on those produce that provide the most return. If cotton pays more, they would concentrate on cotton. If sesame or sunflower pays more, they would concentrate on that. No more coose, no more findi and certainly no more Tiya Kolongho. The end result would be food scarcity like we have never known before.

B. Land use.

Saiks, the limited land we have does not support the mass production of a lot of produce. Because of these, the choice of what we grow can not be as diversified as, say, the USA or  Europe.

Secondly, due to the seasonal nature of our rainfall, we are restricted, at least during the months it is extremely dry or extremely wet, to grow only a limited number of agricultural produce.

C. Change of attitude

This, in my opinion, is one of the daunting tasks we face. This again brings me to what I wrote earlier, which is:

"This is so because when Jammeh tells us to return to the land he is not referring to those who are already there. He is referring basically to those without the skills or education to compete for the limited jobs in the GBA but who, nontheless, would rather be roaming about our streets and doing nothing gainful."

By the above I mean that these unemployed youths, without proper education or skills and mostly coming from the rural areas should be helped and made to appreciate that they can make a difference in the way our farmers farm. In other words, they can provide that additional helping hand. It is important for some of these youths to be made to understand the importance of agriculture the same way you, I and many others do.

Finally, even if Jammeh is not sincere about his call for our youths to return to the land, people like you and I can at least give our take on the pros and cons of it while keeping the political rhetoric to a minimum. This way, those who develop the policies that can have profound effect on our farmers may find something useful from our arguements/debates.

Have a good day, Gassa.