By Rohey Jadama & Fatoumatta K.Jallow
Women oyster sellers along the Banjul-Serekunda highway are appealing
for support from government to acquire canoes and storage facilities.
They made this appeal during an interview with Foroyaa yesterday, 19thJanuary, 2016. They were throwing light on their work and its challenges.
Speaking to Maimuna Jatta, one of the woman oyster harvesters/sellers,
who is in her late forties, she said customers are coming to patronise
them but that they do face challenges in terms of acquiring working materials
and also having to go all the way to Barra sometimes to get oysters
for sale.
“We don’t have enough canoes to use at the moment which is making our
work very difficult. We also don’t have storage facilities to keep
both our materials and oysters,” lamented Madam Jatta.
She called on government to provide them with assistance to make their
work easier and more profitable.
For her part, Haddy Sambou, another woman oyster seller, said she
normally takes the first ferry from Barra to Banjul to sell her
oyster. She added that she normally pays D450 to and from Barra every
time she goes to get oyster.
Madam Samboualso appealed to the government to support them with a
cold storage facility to avoid spoilage of their oysters.
Fatou Badjie and Matty Sambou also reiterated the need for support to
enable them to thrive in the business of selling oysters which, they
said, has a market and can be lucrative.
