By: Modou Touray
Women rice farmers in Jahally, Pacharr and Sapu in the Central River Region of The Gambia have said there is huge fertile land for rice cultivation in their communities but lack the required modern agricultural tools or machinery for large scale cultivation of rice.
The women told The Fatu Network that manual labour is hectic and difficult, making rice yield low.
“Right now, most of the strong young men and women have moved to Greater Banjul Area while others have embarked on irregular migration in search of greener pastures. We the elderly struggle on the fields. Even our children at home are concentrating on their education; only few of them help us on the rice fields,” Sunkary Kandeh explained.
Technical innovations that helped improved rice productivity include irrigation, pest and disease management, fertilization, modern varieties, farm mechanization, improved rice milling, and crop rotation are challenging. These innovations increase productivity.
Jahally, Pacharr and Sapu were popular for their large-scale production in rice, but recently, their production level dropped drastically due to lack of proper equipment.
President of the joint rice fields, Awa Sama, highlighted to this medium the numerous challenges farmers continuously face.
“Irrigation machines are needed to pump fresh water from the river to the rice fields. This place used to harvest lots of rice but most of the equipment are damaged beyond repair,” Awa Sama disclosed.
Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil through various systems of tubes, pumps, and sprays. Irrigation is usually used in areas where rainfall is irregular or during drought. There are many types of irrigation systems in which water is supplied to a farm.
Speaking on behalf of their colleague farmers, President of the women rice farmers, Awa Sama and Vice President Suntu Sanneh highlighted lack of farming equipment, fertilizer, proper canals to access water from the river and the non-fencing of field perimeters as major challenges.
According to Kawsu Drammeh, a regular rice farmer, mechanization in rice cultivation is decreasing due to lack of implements such as tractors, power tillers, paddy transplanters, weeders, power sprayers, combine harvesters and threshers.
“Machines make work on the farm easier and more efficient. If rice farmers want to do their planting on time, they must use modern tools. Using manual labour is time consuming and less productive.”
Jahally Pacharr and Sapu once constituted major rice growing fields in The Gambia with their potential to feed the entire country at a time when they were being managed by the Chinese in the 90s and early 2000s.
Women farmers said the potential fields were ignored by the government, leaving them to individually cultivate with limited support.
