By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Land ownership within the Western Area for construction of houses will take vegetable farmers out of job.
Abu Bakarr Koroma Dumbuya, chairman of vegetable growers in Leicester, a village in the mountains overlooking Freetown, has said that recently land ownership within the community has limited the volume of their produce and their income.
Dumbuya explained that the population increase within the community has meant much of the land which had hitherto been used to grow crops have now been used to construct houses.
“Because the land available for vegetable growers is limited it is now difficult to access enough land to grow crops. The supply of vegetables in Freetown is limited. Landowners usually demand Le60, 000 per heap. Some of us buy over 30 heaps a year. This is what we’ve been doing every year,” he said.
Dumbuya further said that the heavy cost of acquiring land to grow vegetables and the poor attitude of land owners generally have dissuaded many former vegetable growers.
“Now, the land owners are in the habit of selling the same heaps to different growers. Recently, while I was working on the 20 heaps I paid Le 1,200,000 for, I was physically assaulted by three brothers who claimed that the same land had been rented to them by the same land owner. The three brothers threatened to kill me. So to save my life, I then decided to avoid the place, thus forfeiting my money in the end,” he explained.
Dumbuya grows cassava, rice, groundnut, potato, okra and other leafy vegetables which are mostly consumed by a good number of Freetonians on a daily basis.
“Our livelihood depend on our produce. We buy clothes, provide food, shelter and sustain our families from what we usually produce,” he said.
He pledges that if vegetable farmers have the appropriate support in Sierra Leone, many European countries would end up importing fresh vegetables from Sierra Leone and boost the economy.
Dumbuya said exporting fresh vegetables to Europe will greatly earn the country the much needed foreign exchange which in turn will strengthen the country’s economy.
He opined that agriculture has the potential to reduce would help to reduce poverty and help develop that sector in Agriculture.
Dumbuya, 20, started growing vegetables after his parents, Mohamed Koroma Dumbuya and Yalikha Yansaneh died when he was aged 10.
“My parents were farmers too. They used to have land in Sambaya in Kambia. But when they died, some of their family members took over the land. Being a young boy and the only son to my late parents, I was asked by my uncles to stay with my late grandmother at Leicester Community. When my grandmother died, I was left in the community with no one to support me. So I have to make do with growing vegetables to prevent me from sliding into a life of crime to make a living. I need support to take care of myself,” he narrated.
Fudia Sillah, who grows cucumber and carrot in Leicester, says that if only the Government of Sierra Leone would allocate farmlands to them the youths would be self-reliant and there would also be enough supply of fresh Vegetables in Freetown. “Farmers, mostly our chairman, who has no parent and supporter, need support from the government,” she appealed.