By: Alieu Jallow
In The Gambia, women are primarily responsible for growing vegetables for local markets. However, they encounter several obstacles in the process that require immediate attention. Despite these constraints, gardening remains a reliable source of income for many rural and urban women and their families. Some even use the proceeds to pay for their children’s education and healthcare. Unfortunately, a lack of market access, water, and storage facilities threaten these benefits.
To address these challenges, the Women Farmers’ Association held a meeting on October 5th with JFR Trades’ founder and CEO. The group discussed strategies to improve market access and storage facilities, which have been a long-standing dilemma.
Mohamed Jaafar, a young Gambian entrepreneur, expressed his willingness to support the women farmers and improve their status quo.
“I will believe in these women and their potential to feed the entire nation if supported. As such, I am willing to work with them to support them by providing a market for them,” Jaafar said.
Jaafarr stated that women farmers can prevent or stop products from Senegal if they can assure the government of sufficient production.
“You can put a stop to products coming from Senegal if you work hard and produce enough for the people. This way, the government will be willing to put a moratorium on goods coming from Senegal and we will eat what we grow and trade our goods in dalasis without needing foreign currency,” he said.
Jaafar called on the women to grow as many potatoes as they could this season to scale up their productivity and income.
Yama Njie, the president of CRR North Women Farmers Association, expressed her association’s willingness to partner with Muhammed Jafarr to produce enough food for self-sufficiency.
“I wish to extend the zeal and readiness of the women farmers CRR north to work with you to feed this country, thus achieving the dream of food self-sufficiency. We have the powers and fertile land to make it happen, so we will want to rally behind your support to make this happen,” Njie said.
Ndey Jarju, representing women farmers in the Lower River Region, emphasized the significance of partnerships in providing a ready market for their products before harvest.
“Access to market has been a great challenge for us which limits our production level but having the backing of your support to provide us with a market for produce will motivate us to go the extra mile to cultivate a larger portion”.
Ousman Ceesay, the secretary of the West Coast Women Farmers Association, emphasized the importance of formalizing the partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding between the JFR company and the women farmers.
“After this meeting, we will form a task force, set out recommendations and sign an MOU to foster a greater working relationship that enhances a good food value chain as aim to add value to our products,” Ceesay said.
Fatoumatta Jarju from the North Bank region and Hajula Jarjusey from the Upper River region share similar views, highlighting that their members support the government’s and Jafarr’s goal of achieving self-food sufficiency.
The stakeholders have decided to hold weekly meetings to identify their strengths and discuss the issue of fluctuating market prices, reaching a consensus on the matter.
