Farmers Upbeat But…

Farmers in the Central River Region of The Gambia are positively impressed with this year’s cropping season and hopes are running high that harvests would be bounteous.

In an interview with this paper, Yerro Wane, a farmer in Brikamaba, said the farmers in the area are enthusiastically overwhelmed with emotion over the ‘impressive’ performance of their crops, especially rice, millet and groundnut.

“This year promises to be a season with a difference as against the previous years when the performance of my crops were below par. I’m expecting a bumper harvest this time around as my crops are doing extremely well,” he enthused.

For his part, Sulayman Marra of Sare Fally in Upper Fulladu West was happy with the status quo when he told our reporters that: “The rain pattern is very impressive and we’re hopeful that there would be a record high in this year’s productivity.”

For Salifu Jawo of Marutaben, all indications were that the quality of lives of the farmers would be significantly improved thanks to the rains.

However, despite the pre-harvest euphoria pervading the farming communities in The Gambia, farmers are apprehensive that the awful spectre of credit buying and other dislocations in many stages of groundnut trade may once again rear their ugly heads.