Our 10 acres of land in The Gambia is to set up an arts community and a hydroponics project to help sustain the community and surrounding village.
How We Got Here
I have purchased 10 acres of land in The Gambia, part of which is to set up an arts community, part of which is to start a hydroponics project. I initially saw a programme on TV about hydroponics and then went online to research it. It seemed
ideal for the size of land we can dedicate to it, and also because the earth itself is not extremely fertile where it is, so hydroponics would make the most efficient, productive and cost effective use of the land. Everyone working on the site will be local
and trained. Our first step is to put a young man who is eager to return to farming back into college to provide him with an agricultural management diploma.
I met Famara Jammeh in 2007 when he was working in a hotel. We stayed in touch and he expressed his desire to "get back to the country to work the land". He is from a farming family and he continued to show his reliability, commitment and
support in my negotiations with the chief of the village, the Alkalo, as we have been planning the project. He will be attending The Gambia College School of Agriculture (GCSA).
I have tried my best to fund him through the first part of the year. This hydroponics project will help the artist space become self-sufficient and sustainable.
Research and Planning
The hydroponics project will effectively provide fresh produce for the people on the site. I have continued to do research on the hydroponics plan with the support of a friend in South Africa who has studied it and is currently putting it into
practice and visited a project called My Farm in The Gambia. Their ongoing research and trials, and expertise and experience have been very helpful to determine what we can grow successfully and will be assisting us to determine how much will be used for the
community, and if we will have surplus to sell, creating income to go back into the project. This work is ongoing. We will also be providing produce for some of the hotels. We have undertaken research with the five, 5 star hotels who are all excited and supportive
of this venture, as we will be able to provide them with produce that they are currently importing at a very expensive rate. Two of the hotels, for example, are owned by the same company. They have a farm but it still does not produce enough for them to be
non-reliant on imports. The Gambia is one of the smallest and poorest countries on the continent and so with the world fluctuations in the exchange rate, all foodstuffs that are imported are expensive.
The Future We Are Creating
I believe that Art is the HeArt of the Nation, and I want to produce an effective model to show how creativity can be regarded as an industry and be be successful without relying on state funds, yet add wealth to the economy of the
country.
Tourism in The Gambia brings in 18% of the gross domestic product - the second highest earner of foreign revenue - and 14.5% of employment i.e. 1 in every 7 jobs. But it is also seasonal. Creating an artist community such as this, will encourage
a different kind of visitor to the country that moves away from being beach focused, as arts and culture will be at its centre – Gambian arts and culture alongside and combined with with international arts and culture.
In the ‘low season’ many people do not have jobs as there is not enough tourism to sustain them, whereas our aim is to encourage people to visit The Gambia for different reasons, and for people to spend quality time visiting, creating,
encompassing art and study trips on both short and long breaks. The artist community in Sambuyang will train local artists whilst accommodating visiting ones.
