A call: Back to the land (Part II)

As The Gambia is an agricultural country, students in schools should be able to identify the difference between subsistence farming and commercial farming. Subsistence farming is practised by many farmers in developing countries like The Gambia.

These poor farmers earn their living by working on the land and merely growing enough for themselves and their families and practice what is known as shifting cultivation. Commercial farming, on the other land, is practiced in many developed countries including South Africa, where farming is more advanced and profitable with great use of machinery and modern methods of farming.

Farmers practising subsistence farming in many developing countries like The Gambia are poor because this type of farming is characterized by the use of simple farming tools such as cutlass, the hoe and the axe as a means of clearing the bush for planting crops.

One of the disadvantages of subsistence farming is low productivity. President Jammeh should be commended for trying to replace the primitive tools farmers are using with tractors and other required agricultural implements for our farmers to increase production.

This information will help our young Gambians in schools not to blame or hate the subject of “Agriculture” in school but to blame this farming system with low productivity under which their parents have been practicing for their whole lives and remaining poor. Transformation from this low agricultural productivity to commercial farming should be encouraged through training, research, effective extension programmes and government policies to promote agricultural production in The Gambia.

It is necessary that we focus on the school system to produce skilful and knowledgeable farmers. To achieve this, it is suggested that relevant theory and practical agriculture be taught in schools as a recognized school subject. This will make teachers and pupils develop interest and participate actively in the implementation of agricultural school projects. These young Gambians in schools can be motivated to have the desirable and positive attitudes towards farming at school going age by involving them through training, in their practical, school farms and gardening activities.

The school garden is a small farm where vegetable crops are intensively cultivated and fruit tree seedlings raised for the school orchard. It can be established in any available space in the school however small. The following points should be considered in the selection of a garden site. There should be adequate supply of water, leveled site, fertile soil, drainage and the availability of wind breaks.

The garden in the school compound can help in the control and watching of birds, insect pests, plant diseases and rodents.

For their practicals, students will be taught how to prepare the site for favourable plant growth, that is cultivation, preparation of vegetable nursery beds, watering of seed boxes, pricking out, planting out (transplanting) and the subsequent treatment of planted seedlings after transplanting. They will also be taught how to make compost heaps in their gardening activities and the benefits of animal manure and compost in the soil as opposed to over doses of chemical fertilizers, and the advantages of mulching.

Gardening practices in schools will also help students to acquire agricultural knowledge and skills for self-employment. The garden will provide vegetables for their school meals and strategies of marketing for their school farm production when they reach the Senior Secondary level.

Pupils in nursery schools are very young but must be motivated and a strong foundation in this important subject given at this tender age. Agricultural orientation for these very young children, who are the future leaders and farmers, can be done through observation by showing them illustrations of farm animals and farm crop, their names and identification using cassettes and slides. Poems about animals and plants can be read by the teachers for them to know the benefits of Agriculture through discussions as motivation to farming.

Establishing a school farm in the Lower and Upper Basic Schools with all the required farm animals, crop project and the required agricultural implements can be very expensive and therefore the establishment of an inexpensive school gardening project is being suggested for the above-named schools for their agricultural practicals together with the effective teaching of Agriculture as an important school subject.

Theory and practical agriculture in senior secondary schools is very important but can be very expensive if all the schools are to be equipped with all the required farm animals, crops, farm tools and implements. Therefore it is suggested that one or two senior secondary schools be selected from each region and equipped for the effective teaching of agricultural practices required for food production and self employment.
The availability of adequate land and water will also be considered as criteria for selection.

At the end of the senior secondary school career, few promising students from each region, could be selected to undergo a two-year agricultural course in an established agricultural institution. In their first year they could be taught general Agriculture; specialization in their second year, for them to become “pilot farmers”. They would then be sent back to the communities from where they come; eg. students from CRR will become model farmers in rice cultivate ion and the same with other regions, specializing in their agricultural production area.

These trained “pilot farmers” will need the support of stakeholders from the entire community. Financial assistance in the form of loans could be obtained from banks. Their land and property could be measured and valued by the survey department and used as collateral.

Supervision, monitoring and technical advice could be given by the department of Agricultural Science. The department of co-operation could take up the erection of cold storage facilities and buy agricultural products from these pilot farmers to sell or supply supermarkets in order to reduce the importation of eggs, chicken, vegetables etc.

If these pilot farmers are given such support by government and all stakeholders involved, they will become successful and skilful farmers and this would convince our adult farmers and the public, especially students, that farming is a profitable and dignified occupation. We must make an effort so as to convince Gambians that with collective efforts, we can make farming a success in The Gambia.

We cannot produce successful farmers when the supermarkets are stocked with imported agricultural products. All stakeholders must come together to make this difficult venture a success in the interest of the Gambian agricultural development which is the dream of His Excellency the President.

A comparison of office desks with well trained and motivated regional pilot farmers can be done with students from school. This will prove that well informed and supported farmers can be economically and socially better than office clerks. Not only telling, but showing Gambians how agriculture can be done to make a farmer rich, is one of the most effective ways of convincing Gambians to take up farming seriously.

Many Agricultural Science teachers in the past were concerned with the lack of relevant and practical Agricultural Science text-books for their schools. They wanted books that match and favour the Gambia’s agricultural environment and conditions for agricultural development.

The Agricultural Science textbook for senior secondary schools and colleges in West Africa, produced by the author, not only guides teachers and students to acquire knowledge and skills in plant and animal agricultural food production, it also covers the examination requirements of the West African Examinations Council. This textbook was launched on the 24th July 2004 as part of celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the July 22nd revolution. The book reviewer was Mr Ernest Aubee. The textbook is a student’s companion to agriculture in The Gambia.

To conclude, the author wishes to appeal to the public to adhere to the call of President Jammeh “Back to the Land” which is frequently published in The Observer and Point Newspapers, aimed to increase agricultural food production in The Gambia. This is our concern and hope of our farmers. Responding to this call, the department of education under the leadership of President Jammeh is determined to revive ad strengthen the school farm and gardens for the training of our young Gambians in agricultural production.

The author who is an agriculture educationist is motivated and had the same idea of promoting agriculture as President Jammeh is doing now.
When he started teaching in 1953, in Bwiam primary school, Foni Kansala, he emphasized the importance of the teaching of practical agriculture to young Gambians. He is a Gambian who has sacrificed his time and energy, traveling by boat with the Fulladu and Lady wright and over-land to teach in many primary and secondary schools in all parts of the country.

He was also a senior agricultural science education lecturer at The Gambia College and an agricultural science examiner for the West African Examination Council and interacted with young Gambians in mission and government schools. He worked with Caritas (NGO) on women, village and school garden agricultural programmes; also with crops members at the NYSS Nyaniberi and Sapu rice farms as farm manager, teaching the NYSS youth to acquire agricultural knowledge and skills in crop and animal husbandry.

He has written several agricultural science textbooks for schools, based on his teachings and field-work experience. He is a graduate of Njala University in Sierra leone and Worcester College of Higher Education, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, specializing in agricultural education. Among the textbooks written by the author is the “Gardening Guide for Schools on the Production of Vegetables and Fruit trees and an “Agricultural Science” for Senior Secondary Schools and Colleges in West Africa, covering the examination requirements for the West African Council certificate.

The book has 162 pages and is divided into four chapters covering Introduction to Agriculture, Basic Concepts, Soil Science, Crop Science and Animal Science. The forward of this informative and practical agricultural textbook is written by Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, President of The Gambia to encourage other Gambians.