A young planter, Lamin Fatty said farming makes him feel healthier and he is proud to be a farmer.
Fatty is a third-year student at The Gambia College School of Agriculture, pursuing advanced diploma in agricultural science.
The young farmer stressed that the new generation of farmers in the country need help to realize their potentials.
The 25-year-old is undoubted that with the necessary help, he could meet his targets in the country, where farmers are the poorest of the poor.
“But in other parts of the world, farmers are the richest,” he noted, before rhetorically asking, “but why not here?”
The young farmer explained that he’s engaging in farming because to him, it’s a noble profession like any other profession.
“I choose to study agriculture and to become a farmer because it is my passion since I was in the high school; and here I’m,” Fatty said.
He further indicated that young farmers need support to boost the country’s agricultural sector-which is still under-developed.
The Agricultural Science student; “our agricultural sector is under zero development and agriculture is said to be the backbone of The Gambia. So, there is a need to help those engaged in the sector to boost it.”
The former public relations officer of the College Students Union recalled that he started gardening at the Gambia College in 2016 and last year, he planted 50 different plants in the campus.
He is currently having over five hundred different plant species, which he said; he wanted to sell in order to pay for his tuition fees.
“I want to sell these plants to pay my tuition fees, and I hope it will work,” the young determined farmer who revealed that lack of support is affecting the realization of his potentials as a young farmer said.
“I can do more than this.
I could have produced more paw paw, avocados and oranges if I have the support."
He said he wants to have his own plot of land to farm and make money, and also employ other Gambians, urging that anyone who can help him in that regards, the person is most welcome.
The young agriculturist intimated that the different varieties of plants he has in his garden are good species, adding that he is using organic materials to improve their quality.
“In using waste materials, you also keep the environment clean,” he said.
Fatty use a system of tying bottles above nursery beds with holes to allow water to drop on the plants.
The young gardener is using this unusual method of “irrigation”, because, as he pointed out, he lacks support.
“I have lot of plants that need to be transplanted but I don’t have the money to buy the plastic bags they should be put in. Just these days, I bought over hundred bags, but that wasn’t enough to transplant all my plants,” he decried.
