LIFE OF THE RURAL PEOPLE
with Abdoulie Dibba
This Column is meant to monitor and report on issues that concern the
people of the rural area in terms of how they are facilitating or
hindering their development.
The column has been highlighting the situation of the Rural Women in
terms of poverty, drudgery in the absence of labour saving devices,their lack of control and ownership of land which is key to any
agricultural activities and so on and so forth.
It was stated in previous editions that women risk their health in
order to put bread on the table and that they work under the scotching
sun without sunscreen working on the farm or garden, processing food,
fetching water or doing laundry.
With no employment opportunities in Rural Gambia other than the farm,
poverty is taking a dramatic toll as women lack control and ownership
of the key factor of agricultural production which is land.
In this edition, we shall bring to the attention of our readers the
concerns of the rural people with regards to the exploitation they are
subjected to which compound their poverty and hardship.
To begin, it is apt to state that research has shown that poverty is
rife in the rural area and that over sixty per cent of rural families
live on incomes below the designated poverty line.
The Rural Development Organisation (RDO) based in Farafenni in the
Illiassa District North Bank Region, engaged in awareness raising
meetings on the need to establish Community Forest, targeting village
heads, traditional land owners and the Village Development Committee.
The objective of awareness raising is to capacitise the local
communities to build sustainably manage Community Forest and mitigate
the impacts of climate change.
On 8 August, 2015, thirty rural dwellers from four communities
including their Alkalos, Women Leaders, Village Development Committee
leaders, Youths, Chief of Illiassa, Regional Forest Officer, Regional
Environment Officer, Community Development Officer, Water Resources
Officer, Councillor Kubandar ward, Rural Development Organisation’s
Chief Executive Office and Staff were trained on sustainably manage
Community Forest and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
On 10 August, 2015 at Chamen in which twenty-five participants were
trained on the need to establish Community Forest targeting council of
elders, Alkalolu, Village Development Committee members, women and
youth groups.
After the awareness raising in Illiassa, Chamen, Kalataba, Jumansar,
and Dutabullu, thirty Village Development Committee members from all
the villages mentioned, were trained on the composition of the Village
Development Committee, the function of Village Development Committee
as the entry point and on tree nursery management for income
generation.
“We have trained the farmers how to raise tree nursery and at the end
of the training each VDC representative was given 500 nursery
materials and also transplanted 1000 seedlings in the communities’
gardens of Dutabullu and Kalataba,” stated the CEO of Rural
Development Organisation.
During the period, said the CEO Of the RDO, the Rural dwellers were
also taken through economic aspect of the nursery production as well
as the importance trees have to the environment and to the livelihood
of the people.
