By Savithri Rodrigo
The Gambia (Commonwealth Union)_A nursery in the North Bank Region is propagating and managing 250,000 climate-resilient seedlings of fruit, vegetable and plant trees to augment food security into The Gambia’s sustainability formula. However, what is most unique about Plantation Nurseries located at Fass Njaga Choi is that the company is youth-led and embraces locally available resources for raising plants using advanced models of agriculture via new technology.
Samba Faye is 32 years old and a farmer, who leads Plantation Nurseries which currently has 25 varieties of seedlings in its nursery bank. His vision as CEO is to become one of the leading suppliers of quality seedlings in The Gambia and to achieve this, he collaborates with the Food & Agricultural Organisation, Ecosystem-based Adaptation, Banjul City Council, the Forestry Department, The Gambia Red Cross Society and the National Coordinating Organisation of Farmers Association – The Gambia. The nurtured seedlings will be distributed to smallholder farmers and farmer communities.
However all is not smooth sailing. Even though well trained and experienced in his industry, Faye and his team face numerous challenges including battling weeds and pests, identifying and managing disease, lack of seeds and fertilizer as well as grow-bags, which have sent prices skyrocketing.
Malnutrition is a major health issue in The Gambia with eight percent of the population either food insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Food insecurity increased in 2021 to 13.4 percent. More rural households are disproportionately impacted as opposed to the urban population.
With young farmers like Faye leading the charge to reduce food insecurity, The Gambia is largely dependent on rainfall with only 5 percent of agricultural land equipped with any type or irrigation. This means the rural poor must face about a four month lean period during the rainy season. There has to be a concerted effort to establish more nutrition-sensitive interventions to improve food security in this small West African country, for its 2.4 million population.
