Folks, when it rains, it pours for our people. Now, were these seeds bought at a Romanian flea market? Is there an end to this madness? Now, let's see if Jammeh's seeds wil come with such pest stories. please read on. Distributed Seeds Overwhelmed By Pests The Independent (Banjul) July 25, 2003 Posted to the web July 25, 2003 Pa Modou Secka Banjul Although the government may be patting itself in the back for distributing over 1, 200 metric tons of seed nuts and fertilizers to Gambian farmers, it has been targeted for complaints by the beneficiaries who claimed that the nuts are infected with pests. Speaking to The Independent, farmers in Central River Division have lamented over the fact that the quality of the seed nuts has been questionable and therefore it was ill advised if they were to be used. July is "Join AllAfrica Month" Subscribe! For $95 a year (or $25 a month), AllAfrica's premium service will give you: daily, customized email alerts of top news from allafrica.com a sophisticated search engine unlimited access to AllAfrica's archive of over 640,000 documents Get the advantages -- and help preserve free access for everyone to AllAfrica's current news. Subscribe now >>> Read why you should >>> A farmer at Sait Maram village in Niani Kuntaur Alhagie Sallah said that although the government's intentions in distributing the seed nuts was positive he and other farmers cannot use them because they are overwhelmed with pests and their agricultural experience has taught them that it was not proper to plant them. He added that infected nuts couldn't germinate. Sallah said that a government willing to help farmers, should give them money, alongside very good seed nuts which are enough to produce a good harvest for farmers. He said good fertilizers for coos and groundnut will account for good nutrient and growth, which will help in the fertility of farms and enhance crop yields. This according to him will prevent farmers from engaging in credit buying in the year. He said, providing seed nuts should be done in a specific time or duration in the season. In his contribution, Elliman Ceesay from Mamut Fana, Central River Division also claimed that the seeds are not fit to be planted since they are with pests. He said although the government has done tremendously well in providing them with seeds, it was unfortunate that they could not be used. Morr Gaye said farmers are the backbone of the country and urged the government to help efforts by them to give an agricultural orientation to the country's economy, which had hitherto depended on agriculture as its mainstay. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~