A Gambian at Lincoln

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 16

A Gambian at Lincoln

By

JAMES HOMES,

journalist,

Lincoln College

Lincoln College has its first student from Gambia, on the West African Coast. He is Mr Bakary Trawally,

aged 28. a plant pathologist. Mr Trawally, a scientific officer with the Gambian Crop Protection Service Department, is working for a master’s degree in plant pathology at Lincoln. He intends studying soil-borne diseases of leguminous crops as these are particularly troublesome in Gambia.

He graduated Bachelor of Agricultural Science with honours from Punjab Agricultural University, in India, in 1979. On his return to Gambia he joined the Crop Protection Service headquarters at Yundum, about 21 kilometres south-east of the Gambian capital. Banjul. He has yet to determine the project on which he will work at Lincoln, but he will be working in the microbiology department under Professor A. P. Mulcock.

His project will relate directly to the work he does in Gambia. “The main crops with which I work are ground-nuts — which you call peanuts — rice, sorghum, millet, maize, and cotton,” he says. “I also work with crops such as mango, guava, citrus,

banana, coconut, and oil palm, and vegetable crops such as onion, pepper, eggplant, bitter tomato, cabbage, and lettuce. Mr Trawally says that tapioca is an important root crop in the country. “We call this cassava or manioc, and it used in the way potato is used in New Zealand,” he adds. “Potatoes are imported from the Netherlands, but most people in Gambia eat cassava.

“Cassava crops were attacked by cassava mealybug and cassava mosaic virus, and this resulted in Gambia having to bring in large imports of potatoes.” Cassava mealybug came to Gambia from South America, and cassava mosaic virus from neighbouring African countries, he says. These infestations led to a quarantine service being established in Gambia; until these outbreaks any plant material could be brought into the country. Now there are quarantine inspectors at the port of Banjul, at the international airport at Yundum, and on

the borders.

Mr Trawally says the quarantine section was set up in 1981 as part of the Crop Protection Service, and his last job before coming here was as quarantine coordinator. “Permits are now needed to import seeds or plant material, and many flower and plant seeds come from New Zealand.”

Mr Trawally went to the United States and Egypt to study quarantine procedures in those countries. In the United States, he worked with the Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, on plant proctection and quarantine. In Egypt, he worked on the inspection of ships in transit through the Suez Canal, and on vessels entering Egyptian ports. In Gambia, Mr Trewally works on three levels: extension, teaching, and research. His extension work takes him to villages throughout the 6400 square-kilometre country, about one-sixth the size of Canterbury. He works with regional agricultural officers and agricultural assistants at village level. Crop protection teams work at six stations throughout the country, and carry out regular spraying programmes. When disease infestations occur, Mr Trawally is callee in to diagnose and confirm the disease and determine the action that should be taken. He also gives advice to farmers on crop rotation, if this is necessary to bring any disease under long-term control.

Farmers are told they must report any sign of

disease as soon as possible so that an infestation can be quickly brought under control.

Mr Trawally says in every village the central meeting point is known as the Bantaba, usually a banyan tree with a bamboo bench around it.

The Bantaba is used for all occasions, sad and joyous: funerals, weddings, medical services such as vaccination, discussion of village problems and, of course, meetings to discuss crops. “Before holding the meetings we have to approach the Alkalo, the head of the village,” Mr Trawally says. “Ninety per cent of the people of Gambia are farmers, an electorally, important section of the community, so the Alkalo of a village is a very important man.”

Face-to-face meetings with farmers at the Bantaba are vital in getting them to

understand how to deal with crop problems. “We explain in simple terms what needs to be done, showing them photographs and, sometimes, even microscope slides.” Gambia, with less than half a million people, has eight different languages, but two of these languages are widely used. Mr Trawally will be at Lincoln College for about two years, so he will not be back in Gambia until late 1984. He is looking forward to his wife of only one year. Mambinta who is 22, joining him here, so he is seeking somewhere to live.

His first impressions of New Zealand are that this is a beautiful country with lots of friendly people.

■ “Ever since I arrived in Auckland, when I have not known where to go, people have gone out of their way to show me. “I think that I shall be able to live here quite comfortably,” he says.