The former president of The Yahya Jammeh; who ruled with an iron fist with gross human rights abuses is still being celebrated for mobilising thousand of unemployed rural youths to embark on functional agriculture to earn a living.
Alhagie Karamo Jammeh who leads the ” Champion Farmers highlighted that his group of youths were motivated during a call by former president Jammeh who provided material and financial support to youths dubbed” Champion Farmers ” to involve in the cultivation of crops, not only for commercial purposes but feed their families as well.
In an exclusive interview with BlockTV, Mr Jammeh lamented that their agricultural production output has drastically reduced due to a lack of support from the government of Adama Barrow
” Agricultural machinery as well as financial support which were provided by the ex-president Jammeh are not available now and we have no alternative but to depend on our little resources to sustain our agricultural initiative”
“After the former president left we don’t get any help from anyone . we struggle and grow and after growing, we will contact markets and rent a car from kombo and go around that’s why we were calling on the government to give us .support because, with their help, we can continue with the effective and sustainable initiative of grow what you eat; eat what you grow the initiative,” Mr Jammeh said
The champion farmers believe that the agricultural initiative of the ex-president Jammeh is still a tangible proposal and should be well nurtured to enhance food security and self-employment.
” Not everything about ex-president Jammeh is bad, he championed good things for the citizens. We cannot ignore everything associated with him. Engaging in agriculture to feed ourselves is for our own benefit. After the fall of the Jammeh regime in 2017, most of the youths working with me decided to return to their various villages because they were hopeless, ” he explained.
According to Alhagie Karamo Jammeh, his association started in 2015 with 200 youths with a view to engender the back-to-back initiative of ex-president Yahya Jammeh and also to use it as a self-employment venture.
” .We visited many institutions of the government still there not answering to our call for help this year, we have already registered 58 villages in the Gambia to engage different youths to expand our initiative and ensure that the back to land initiative remains a reality,” Mr Jammeh stressed.
Mr Jammeh on behalf of the Champion Farmers appeals for support in agricultural input, and technical support to enable them to harvest high yields on their farms and meaningfully link with other unemployed youths nationwide.
” Agriculture is the backbone of the economy and must be enhanced. All necessary supports needed must be put together to make food security and self-employment possible. We use to link with Yahya Jammeh but since the coalition government came to power, they don’t support us.” Mr Jammeh lamented.
The Champion Farmers still won’t relent in their move to promote the farming agenda of former president Jammeh; back to the land. Grow what you eat and eat what you grow.
