Images: (i) Essa in his vegetable garden, and (ii) three of the women he supports through his training
Meet 45-year-old Essa. He lives in a rural region of The Gambia and earns his living through growing and selling vegetables. He is married with several children.
Essa is a skilled vegetable producer. Following training from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 2016-17, he has worked hard to train other vegetable farmers in his community to improve their production. Although he lives with a physical disability, this has not stopped him from achieving – and he is also a regional chairperson for a national association for people with disabilities.
Between January and March this year, Essa had the opportunity to attend a six-day refresher training course on vegetable production and improving livelihoods, funded by the Welsh Government. Essa was delighted that this training has helped him to develop his skills and improve his confidence.
Before the Welsh Government-funded training, Essa had very little knowledge of how to build the capacity of vegetable producers – especially when it came to business plan development, marketing techniques and adding value to products.
The training used a combination of case studies, graphics, brainstorming sessions and group work – all of which has helped Essa in his role of providing agricultural technical guidance to other farmers. Over and beyond this, he says that the skills he learnt will also help him in his role in working with people with disabilities in the region.
Essa is delighted that the Welsh Government-funded project is specifically working with people with disabilities as one of the key groups. He is passionate about including this group of people in development issues.
“Disability is not inability!” Essa says.
Context:
Funded by the Welsh Government, this project is supporting vegetable producers and other rural livelihoods impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Essa is just one of the 31,500 people this project has reached.