The visit was meant to get firsthand information on the daily activities of farmers in these areas.
Welcoming the visitors, Jalima Cham, garden facilitator at Jenoi NEMA Project Site, thanked the team for the visit, acknowledging that empowering women means empowering a whole country.
She observed that the Network and Star GSM are doing a good job for the country, and therefore called on government through the Ministry of Agriculture and other organizations in the country to help the two groups to be able to achieve their dreams.
She therefore commended the government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Agriculture for bringing these two projects in their region.
“NEMA and FASDEP are doing a great job in LRR, as their intervention has contributed a lot in alleviating poverty in the area,” she stated.
She recalled that last year alone, the two villages generated over D1 million dalasis as income from their gardens.
“The coming of these projects to the two villages has definitely changed the living condition of people in the two communities”, she added.
According to her, the challenges women face in their gardens include inadequate water supply, salt intrusion, which she said, has a negative impact on their produce.
She therefore appealed to relevant authorities to come to their aid. “The garden is five -hectares and over (200) women are benefiting from the garden”.
In a similar development at Jarra Toniataba, a woman gardener sponsored by FASDEP, according to the women, has contributed a lot in changing their lives of women in the village.
Fatou Darboe, president of the women gardeners, said their only constraint is lack of markets where they can sell their garden produce.
“Lack of markets has made it difficult for us to sell our produce after harvest”.
She also called on the Department of Agriculture to help them in the area of capacity building on garden activities, so that they can have more skills on gardening to be able to make an impact.
She revealed that over 500 women are currently benefiting from the project.
Lamin Kaba, Chief Executive Officer of Star GSM Company, disclosed that the objective of the Network and Star GSM Company is to empower women in all sectors particularly those in the farming.
The team, he went on, will be meeting with women gardeners countrywide, to discuss issues affecting them with a view to coming out with tangible solutions that can improve their agricultural activities.
Kaba assured that Star GSM Company would continue to work with NoGJWCA to make sure women are empowered in all areas.
Pateh Baldeh, President of NoGJWCA-The Gambia said visiting LRR was to get firsthand information from women gardeners of their challenges as well as development in horticultural gardens.
“Today I am very much impressed of what I have seen in these two communities. I’m calling on the government through the Ministry of Agriculture and all those projects under the Ministry to help women in this country in order to eradicate poverty”.
Similarly, the team also visited Jenoi Agricultural Center.
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