RICE CULTIVATIONS BOOM WITH PIWAMP’S TIMELY INTERVENTION

As women in rural Gambia traditionally continue to survive on their rice fields, which are cultivated annually, any help to extend these fields for wider cultivation or tap on untapped areas, would be received by warm hands.

This is what the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP) has done in the Central River Region (CRR) – the largest region in the country, after the project has constructed two bridges to enable rice growers commute easily to their various fields of crops located at the mouth of the unexploited river Gambia.

“Since PIWAMP intervened in our rice fields, the project has constructed two bridges for the women farmers at Jarumeh Koto rice fields,” says Lisa Ceesay, a resident of the said village.

Mrs Ceesay, a seasoned rice grower, said many of the villages have found solace with the project, adding that it has brought respite and has restored hope to many underprivileged farmers.

The construction of the two bridges at a historical area of the country, marks good signs of intervention, as the people of the area have for many years lived under the risky presumption of possible drown in the river by canoe users. For many years, canoes have been the only source of crossing in that part of the country and this has created a climate of fear among people of the area.

That part of the country is the birthplace of hippo attacks, as many years ago conventional history has it that an angry hippopotamus had turned upside down a boat that was bound offshore.

The two bridges by PIWAMP are facilitating quick access to rice fields, and have opened up new areas for extension of rice fields for the women and interested farmers, thus opening the door of opportunity for people to answer to the president’s clarion call of back to the land.

According to Mrs Ceesay, the bridges also help to mitigate potential and fatal attacks by aquatic creature that are seen floating in the water, whilst boatmen paddle pass them.

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Two extension workers of PIWAMP, Ousman Bajinka and Sang Bass, have been instated to aid the communities.

Upon their arrival at the communities, the duo did not fail to follow the dictate of the old adage: ‘Do in Rome as the Romans do”; they got themselves adapted to the local environment, and this had led Madam Ceesay to say “The two gentlemen are very hardworking and they respond to our calls at anytime”.

She adds: ‘‘We the women are proud of their work and in fact anytime we need their service with regard to our rice fields or any problem we notice in our farming, they always respond to us positively and give us good advice as well as educate us about our activities in the rice fields.”

Youth reluctant to go back to the land

Whilst the country continues to register more youthful population, young people seem to have found it hard to hold a hoe and go back to the land, considering it a last option in their lives.

This has become a national phenomenon in all spheres of the country; so Jarumeh is no exception. As Mrs Ceesay puts it: “Only a very few numbers of young people are engaged in rice cultivation.”

She reminded them that there are vast areas of land they can cultivate for rice production, cereal, and even for gardening.

Madam Ceesay noted that PIWAMP’s intervention in the localities has boosted rice production, but pointed at the erratic rainfalls this year that had caused crop failure in almost very part of the country.

Elsewhere in the country, at North Bank Region, PIWAMP has continued to strive hard by building dikes and spillways.

Sarjo Dampha of Kachang Village says PIWAMP has taken away a lot of burden on farmers in his area, while calling on the men-folk to join the women group who dominated the fields.

“Rice cultivation is very important as one would eat what he or she grows and could also have income for the family,” he says, calling on the youth to also see agriculture as a business sector and not a last option for survival.

Comparing his youthful days and now, Dampha says in the 1980s agriculture used to boom, but low rainfall coupled with expensive farming inputs have changed the dimension, saying it is difficult for farmers to cultivate vast areas of land these days.

High cost of fertilizers is also making farming difficult nowadays, Dampha notes, calling on the government and its partners to help trim the cost of fertilizer.

Mbemba Dibassey of Yona village in Central River Region North also gave PIWAMP a pat on the back, saying it “is doing remarkable work in their area.

According to him, the PIWAM project has completed a four-span bridge for them, saying that farming in their area is dominated by women.

However, he stressed the importance of training young people in marketing skills to enable them sell their own produce, as well as training them in processing garden produce. While admitting that the youth are also engaged in farming, he was quick to add that only few of them have their own farms.

Alhagie Muhammadou Natou Sissoho of Sare Alpha in Basse, Upper River Region, says PIWAMP has successfully implemented many activities in their area.

According to him, in villages like Sare Alpha, Dampha Kunda and Sabi, PIWAMP has implemented upland conservation that is Vertivar Transplanting of 11.95 metres in the three villages.

He is believed to have raised the achievements in this farming method, which had been at a standstill over the years in their area.