As Lack of Inputs, Storage Facilities, OthersThreaten Incomes
By: Kemo Kanyi
The women gardeners in the West Coast Region village of Kalagi have appealed for more support from the ADB-funded Gambia Agriculture and Food Security Project (GAFSP)as the lack of inputs, storage facilities, market access and vagaries of weather continue to negatively impact productivity and incomes.
The agriculture ministry, through GAFSP, recently gathered Kalagi women gardeners for areview workshop. Officials also visited the village’s vegetable garden.
“We do not have a place for making compost to boost yields. Marketing is sometimes a problem and we are also grappling with the lack of storage facilities for our produce. We grow vegetables thrice a year, considering the climate,” the President of the Women Gardeners’ Association of Kalagi, FatouSanneh, highlighted.
She explained that the women had devised measures for buying seeds and repairing the garden’s solar-powered water source, explaining that all these were made possible because the association had a credit union account.
The Alkalo of Kalagi, Musa Tamba, made similar sentiments and urged the delegationfrom the agriculture ministry to help the women of his village in their endeavors.
The GAFSP Country Coordinator, Modou S.W Sowe, reported that the garden has generated D2.7M in one cropping season.
He agreed that a cold store would enhancegardeners’ income and prevent post-harvest loss.
“I believe that cold storage facility will help a lot in reducing post-harvest loss and improve the income of the women because they will sell whenever they want to sell not when they are forced to sell. We provide them with technical support in terms of good agricultural practices. And, we provide them with training. We will also provide them with a cold storage facility to help them manage post-harvest losses that they encounter,” he stated.
Mr. Philip Boahen from the Agriculture and Agro-Industry for the African Development Bank thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for the “proper” implementation of the project in The Gambia.
He promised that ADB would continue to support the improvement of the country’sagriculture sector.