freya.moralesalbala
COMMUNITY GARDEN AND FARMER FIELD SCHOOL IN NJOBEN, THE GAMBIA
8 August 2019, Njoben, Central River Region in The Gambia. Farmer, Mariama Surr, 55 years old, stands for a portrait holding mint grown in the garden where she is one of the veretan farmers. She explained how her work here for the past 14 years has generated an important income for her because it allows her to send her children to school and buy the materials they need for their studies. Furthemermore she can now cook them more nutritious meals using all the varieties grown in the garden. The FAO has been helping to expand the Farmer Field School in Njoben (Central River Region -CRR) since 2014, with funding from the EU. The field has been extended from one hectare to five hectares. Today, the various crops grown here: tomatoes, orange fleshed sweet potato, herbs, peppers, cassava, cabbage, okra, rice and many other nutritious foods are grown and consumed by more than 200 women and 14 men, and their families, from the local community. The surplus is sold, and this allows many of the families to improve their livelihoods and send their children to school. Another noteworthy improvement is the comprehensive borehole and water distribution system that has been established, thereby relieving almost 500 women farmers from the hardship of drawing water from the wells.
The community has been trained on gardening and helped agricultural extension workers to introduce more varieties of vegetables and apply climate smart agriculture. Similar support has been expanded to seven other community gardens throughout the country. This component is part of the “Post-crisis response to food and nutritious insecurity in The Gambia” (Project code: GM/FED/38780)
COMMUNITY GARDEN AND FARMER FIELD SCHOOL IN NJOBEN, THE GAMBIA
8 August 2019, Njoben, Central River Region in The Gambia. Farmer, Mariama Surr, 55 years old, stands for a portrait holding mint grown in the garden where she is one of the veretan farmers. She explained how her work here for the past 14 years has generated an important income for her because it allows her to send her children to school and buy the materials they need for their studies. Furthemermore she can now cook them more nutritious meals using all the varieties grown in the garden. The FAO has been helping to expand the Farmer Field School in Njoben (Central River Region -CRR) since 2014, with funding from the EU. The field has been extended from one hectare to five hectares. Today, the various crops grown here: tomatoes, orange fleshed sweet potato, herbs, peppers, cassava, cabbage, okra, rice and many other nutritious foods are grown and consumed by more than 200 women and 14 men, and their families, from the local community. The surplus is sold, and this allows many of the families to improve their livelihoods and send their children to school. Another noteworthy improvement is the comprehensive borehole and water distribution system that has been established, thereby relieving almost 500 women farmers from the hardship of drawing water from the wells.
The community has been trained on gardening and helped agricultural extension workers to introduce more varieties of vegetables and apply climate smart agriculture. Similar support has been expanded to seven other community gardens throughout the country. This component is part of the “Post-crisis response to food and nutritious insecurity in The Gambia” (Project code: GM/FED/38780)