Back to the Land

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Daily Observer

9 June 2011

editorial

We are now in June. It has started raining in the upper part of the country and very soon we will start experiencing downpours here in the Kombos as well. This reminds us that another farming season is around the corner; it is time to once again till our land and plant crops.

We wish to call on the vast majority of the citizenry particularly the youths to actively participate in this farming season, so that collectively we can achieve food self-sufficiency which the leadership of the country has been emphasising on.

Already, the president has demonstrated his commitment to ensuring that the country again registers another bumper harvest, with a massive distribution of tractors. The tractors indeed came at the right time; a time the rainy season is about to commence. In fact, the move to ensure that all the regions of the country benefit from the tractors is a manifestation of the determination of the leadership to ensure the realisation of the objectives of the back-to-the-land initiative.

As citizens, we should be proud that the president himself and the government in general are going the extra-mile to ensure that all the necessary support are given to our farmers. The farmers, on their part, should take maximum advantage of the incentives provided by government, and ensure the country registers a bumper harvest at the end of the season. We therefore hope that people are fully prepared to go and work in the farms. An agrarian nation is a wealthy nation. The rainy season is the period to take control of our natural environment to achieve the much desired development that the leadership of the country has always been advocating for. Besides, farming will greatly reduce unemployment.

Our farming community should therefore take ownership of the materials donated by the President to strengthen the back-to-the-land scheme and make maximum use of them so that we can maximise production and register bumper harvests at the end of the planting season. The youths also need to take up the challenge. They are the cream of the society. Venturing into farming will greatly reduce unemployment and permit them to live respectably. Let us all come together to till the land for our own benefit.

AllAfrica – All the Time