Hundreds of people over the weekend converged on various farms within Kanilai and surrounding villages belonging to the Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, to render a helping hand.

The volunteers were mainly engaged in weeding, post-weeding and ploughing. Among the volunteers that turned out to render a helping hand were members of the St. Joseph Family Farm Centre. Speaking to reporters at the Foni farm, Yankuba Manneh, acting director of the Centre said they were in Kanilai to show solidarity with the president in his farming crusade.

He further stated that they support the philosophy of the back-to-the-land initiative, which he said is geared towards ensuring that the country is self-sufficient in food. "This is really important in our drive towards development and poverty reduction. Without food self-sufficiency we cannot really talk about poverty reduction. So this a great stride for us because we are also working towards that drive and so we feel that we should really come and compliment the efforts of the president and his government," he added.

Manneh, who also told reporters that his centre has been engaging in supporting communities in terms of poverty reduction, disclosed that it has been stated that nationally, The Gambia is around 27 percent in terms of meeting food requirement. He underscored the need to have in place food stores in our midst, and stressed that this cannot be realised through magic, but by responding to the back-to-the-land initiative of President Jammeh.

He continued: "Importation means having our food stores outside our country and this is something that is really dangerous. For example something happens over there like floods, which is the phenomenon right now, where are we? Can we really bank on that? Lets just take example of the issue of sugar, it is because we are not a sugar producing country and when sugar stops outside there, everybody goes stranded here because we bank on it." Also speaking to reporters, one of the volunteers, Landing Jarju, underscored the significance of farming, which has been spearheaded by President Jammeh over the past 16 years. He said: "There is nothing like farming and there is no work more rewarding than farming. The lesson that the head of state is teaching, I cherish."

He also called on Gambians to intensify their efforts in farming. Speaking to reporters at the Western Region farm in Kanilai belonging to the president, the National Assembly member for Kombo Central, Abdou Jarju, who led dozens of youths from Marakissa and environs to come and work on the farm, said their move was meant to respond to the call of the president. He opined that working on the president’s farm is something that they owe to him in view of the fact that he has done a lot for Gambians. "Looking at what we are doing here, the returns are in fact coming back to us," he stated.

Dobong farm
Elsewhere outside Kanilai, members of the Dock Workers Association and the villagers of Dobong in Foni Kansala embarked on a post-weeding exercise on a vast groundnut farm in that village dedicated to President Jammeh. The farm is being cultivated by the dockworkers for the Gambian leader as a token of appreciation to him. Speaking at the site, Biran Camara, farm coordinator of the area expressed satisfaction with the work carried out by the dockworkers and the villagers on the farm, expressing optimism that they would register a bumper harvest at the end of the season.

Dembo Jammeh, president of the Dock Workers Association disclosed that the association is cultivating four different farms in this season. He said they are aware of the fact that the gains of President Jammeh’s farming activities go to benefit the people in many aspects such as sponsorship schemes for the needy. This laudable move by the president, he added, is what motivated them to cultivate a farm for him. Isatou Badgie, lady councilor Kansala Ward expressed similar sentiment, and indicated her satisfaction with the ongoing anti-hunger crusade.