Banjulinding Women on Horticulture, Development
Friday 25th February 2006

The contribution of women in the development of Africa needs not be overemphasised. In addition to managing the household, the African woman contributes immensely in the socio-economic development of her country, and even in the political domain of nation building.

The African woman of today is playing active role in politics, education, technology, commerce, and more especially, agriculture. In the case of The Gambia, even though society seems to regard women as the weaker sex, as it obtains in other parts of Africa, but women have proved to be even stronger, especially in the field of agriculture, making substantial contribution improving the Gross Domestic Product of the nation.

On this vein, SHE SHE SHE anchorwoman this week interviewed the President of the Banjulinding Women Horticultural Garden Association, Kadisa Sambou.

SHE: When was the garden established?

Kadisa: The garden was established in 1979 by some men, but it was mismanaged and they stopped working for a long period. In 1996, we the women took over the garden through the help of President Jammeh and the Chinese.

SHE: How many women are actively working on the garden?

Kadisa: We have about one hundred and four women working on the garden at the moment.

SHE: What are your primary aims and objective?

Kadisa: Our main aims and objectives are to be producing large quantities of vegetables to feed the nation, make some income for ourselves and improve the national economy.

SHE: Which season do you normally work?

Kadisa: We work both during the rainy and dry seasons; we work throughout the year because we do not have other source of income except in this garden.

SHE: What types of vegetables do you cultivate?

Kadisa: We cultivate a lot of vegetables and even fruits. For example, we cultivate tomato, okra, bitter tomato, onion, garden egg, green beans, cabbage, butter nut, carrot, pepper, sweet potato, cucumber, strawberry, groundnut, papaw, salad, green leaves, watermelon, mango, etc. We also have a juice factory here where we make juice for sale.

SHE: Where do you sell your produce?

Kadisa: We have our own market where we sell, and middle men also do come and buy, and also mediators do collect some of our goods and take them to hotels for sale.

SHE: What actually motivated you to work as a gardener?

Kadisa: We’ve seen that things are very hard nowadays and life is not easy, so we decided to come out in our numbers to engage in gardening for our survival, that of our families and the entire nation. If all women are ready to work hard, not even by working at a garden, but in any other type work, it will be good for them and the nation.

SHE: You must be making some income out this engagement. How substantial it is?

Kadisa: We gain a lot from it anyway because through this garden we pay the school fees of our children. We must say we are very appreciative of what we derive from this garden because there was a time most of our children would not complete their secondary school education for lack of fees but today we thank God that problem is somehow solved.

SHE: What are your difficulties and challenges in the job?

Kadisa: Our main difficulty is transportation. We don’t have vehicles to transport our produce and supply our customers. Electricity also poses serious problem for us, because we are having two boreholes that supply us water. But when there is no light we don’t have water to water our vegetables, and as there is an insect called red spider that is really disturbing us in our garden. It destroys some of our vegetables such as tomato, bitter tomato, cucumber carrot etc.

SHE: What do you think can be done to solve these problems?

Kadisa: These problems can be solved if 1) we have a vehicle that can help us to supply our customers at the hotels and at the markets, 2) and if we have a standby generator or solar panel to supply us light.

SHE: What do you have to tell your fellow women concerning your work?

Kadisa: I am appealing to all women in this country to engage in some lucrative income-generating activities and work hard in order to reduce poverty in their lives. I am also appealing to the Alkalolou [village heads] to give helping lands to the women in their communities to engage in farming or gardening because through that women can be self-employed and be self-reliant and make a better future, as sitting at home doing nothing pays nothing and contributes to more hardship in the country.

SHE: What message do you have for the nation?

Kadisa: The only thing I would like to add to what I have said is that I’m thanking God for the life, ability and the uprightness of President Jammeh. He has been very committed in empowering women since he came to power. God shall continue to guide him. I am also thanking my fellow women whom I work with for their cooperation and understanding, because we the Banjulinding women are just like sisters. We work together and help one another. I think that is a big progress for us.