Many
Gambians young people are now discovering that they can make farming a
profitable career in the country.
George
Jatta, Assan Sanyang, Sang Mendy, Christopher Jatta and four other young people
are venturing into vegetable gardening in Abuko, with promising harvest.
They
started their gardening with a capital of D5000; with the cultivation of
vegetables such as tomatoes and cabbages.
They
supply year-round fresh vegetables to local markets in the country and are now
hoping to expand their market to other parts of the country in future.
They
encourage young people to engage in vegetable gardening to increase their
revenue which will enable them to prevent themselves from engaging into criminal
activities.
They
said vegetable gardening decreases the country’s import and increase exports,
observing that it can also create job opportunities for many youth.
They
are encouraging their fellow youth to venture into vegetable gardening to
improve their living conditions.
The
youth appealed to the government and international organisations to help them
with fertilisers and other necessary farm inputs to improve their garden.
“We
need support from government, private sector, philanthropists, donors and
companies to expand our garden,” one of them said.
Investing
in young farmers can help the new Gambia produce food, create jobs and give
agriculture a new makeover.
They
stated that government should support young people to venture into vegetable
gardening as source of income for them.
They
said government should aid youth to prevent from using back-way to Europe
searching for good living conditions and criminal activities.
They
urged government to create storage facilities and market for vegetable gardening
items after harvest to secure price for their items.
‘‘With
good storage facilities and markets it would encourage many youth in the
country to venture into vegetable gardening to better their living
conditions,’’ they said.
‘‘Without
good storage facilities and markets it be would difficult for young people to
engage themselves into vegetable gardening,’’ they pointed out.
