The culture of home gardening, promoted in Central African Republic capital Bangui by several NGOs and partners, including the United Nations, has yielded fruitful results.
Markets of the Central African capital have never seen such a glut of salad, okra, cucumber, melon, tomato, cabbage and carrot.
These agricultural produces come from gardens that have sprouted around houses in the Bangui area, especially the west of the capital.
Most vegetable growers have switched from their fields, whose access has become dangerous because of the militia war to small family farms.
In the wake of reports by several UN agencies warning about the risk of famine in Central Africa due to the insecurity preventing any rural activity that the idea of market gardening was born.
For its part, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began distributing seeds and other farming inputs to Bangui residents, previously trained in market gardening techniques.
At the end of learning sessions, many Bangui residents realized that it is possible for them to live on the produce of the land without moving away from their homes.
Provided by agronomists, the training lasted three to nine months during which prospective market gardeners learn how to make boards (rows of vegetables), to sow, and to follow the plants.
Auditors pay CFA5.000 monthly and receive a certificate at the end of their training.
This is the case of Godron Taramboya.
He left the Training and Production Center of the National Pioneer Youth (JPN), a state entity specializing in the initiation of school dropouts to grow spinach.
After a nine-month training that cost him CFA10,000, Gordon saw fruits from his garden sprouting behind his house.
Every morning he receives shopkeepers who come to buy his products and, thanks to the proceeds, he could take better care of his family’s health, settle school bills and provide food on the table.
Sylvain Mapouya, a teacher, has also started gardening with the help of his siblings.
“After teaching, I tend the garden, along with my young children. The seeds distributed by the associations funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the context of the fight against famine in the Central African Republic are used to grow vegetables around us,” Sylvain explains.
Part of the harvest goes into the family food basket and the other is given over to “vegetable-selling women,” many of whom regularly knock on the teacher’s door for supplies.
Proud of his new activity, he says breaking into a riumphant smile: “I never break down financially.”
Generally, vegetable sellers buy by row of plants and thus that of the tomato worth CFA15,000, against CFA5,000 for the salad.
The rows of other vegetable products are sold at CFA10,000.
Many of the shopkeepers are rather doing well, and some even say that selling a row can yield a 200-percent profit.
“Then, we can understand why girls, many schoolgirls on vacation have embarked in the sale of vegetables. A bowl of plastic or aluminum on the head, they go to offer customers various market garden products. Since the school year ended in June, I accompany mom to sell vegetables. She has her bowl of vegetables and I go with mine,” says Jeanine Sopio, a 5th grader.
She exudes confidence, bowing slightly to allow customers to view her array of chilies, salad and okra.
Another young Central African, who requested anonymity, does not deal in vegetables but considers that business can only bring good to those who trade in it.
Smiling mischievously he says: “My girlfriend, who sells vegetables, always bring some for me in the afternoon, a liter of palm wine and all that she deems fit to make us happy together when we meet.”
BB/cat/fss/abj/APA