Farming in Gloucester village Sierra Leone

Well organised garden hips Gloucester village Sierra Leone

The Gloucester village community

Gloucester is a beautiful community situated at the western part of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. You will find beautiful and active neighbourhoods, with vibrant mix of people and activities. The village is known for its rich culture and local activities which are very amazing to see and experience. In this amazing surrounding, you will discover diverse types of fresh fruits, vegetables and other local produce. This is one of the places in Sierra Leone where huge amount of fresh vegetable leaves and fruits are seen. Growing fresh vegetables is pre dominant in Gloucester village. A good number of the people living there are engage in this specific type of farming activity. The community in Gloucester village is known for its warmth weather, and fresh breeze that comes from the beautiful Mountains, and hills with large trees. As you walk through the street, you will often come across people engaging in lively conversations and sharing laughter. It is an exciting place where neighbours become friends, and everyone is welcome with open arms. Beyond the farming and cultural experiences, Gloucester village is also surrounded by natural beauty; Hills like Leicester peak.  The village is so cold mostly at night and at times during the day. Gloucester village is full of swamp lands, but it is surprising to know that those swamps are not used for growing rice as people expect it to be. the same type of vegetables grown on dry lands are also grown on the swamps; it is just that the swamps are not extremely watery.  During the raining season, farmers work on dry lands, and during dry season, they work on both dry and swamp lands.

Farmers and their tools

Student in the garden Gloucester village Sierra Leone

Farming, (growing fresh green vegetables) is the predominant activity in Gloucester village. it has been, and still sustaining the people who are mostly engaged in it. It is the main source of livelihood for huge number of households in this village. Most of the farmers use, simple tools like watering can, digging hoe, pick axe, softening hoe, cutlass, shovel, spade etc, instead of modern tools.

The Difficulties of farming.

A farmer working on his farm Gloucester village Sierra Leone

Growing these vegetables is actually a difficult work. A lot of hard work (man power) is applied in the growing of these crops. The farmers would carry two watering cans, using them to fetch water from wells and rivers which may be very far or close to the garden to water their crops. As the village is situated in the mountains, it is sometimes very hard to access water, especially in the dry season. Farmers would also stay a whole day watching over their crops. Another issue the farmers face is the matter of land ownership. Some of the lands the farmers use is owned by themselves, others pay for the land they work on as a lease (it could be monthly or yearly depending on what the owner wants) It is sometimes sad to see farmers pay a huge sum of money to work on a piece of land and don’t make profit equal to the amount of money paid for the land. Some of the land owners could decide at any time to put up a structure on the land with a week or two of notice to the farmer which will lead to a big loss for the farmer.

Things grown on the farms.

Lettuce and leaf onions Gloucester village Sierra Leone

The farmers make countless number of hips where different kinds of crops like lettuce, onion, cabbage, beans, thyme, tomato, radish, cassava, potato etc, are being grown. One of the funny facts about the local farmers is that they hardly eat their products except during special occasions and holidays. Some farmers work on their own, while others have people working for them who are been paid every month, or during harvesting time. This is the type of work a good number of the people living there have been doing over the years. It has been helping the people who are engage in it with feeding, house construction, business centres construction, education (primary, secondary and tertiary) and lot more.

Marketing the produce

The marketing of these grown crops is sometimes difficult. Marketing is mostly done by wives of farmers, farmers themselves, relatives and other people in the surrounding. The happy part of it is when crops are taken to town and are sold very fast in expected prices. The sad part of it is, when crops are taken to town but sales become difficult. This is sad because most of those crops cannot survive for the whole day or two after been harvested for sales.  This is why harvesting is not done during a sunny day, but late in the evening hours or very early in the morning hours like 3am or 4am. Another sad part of it is, crops grown been stolen in the farm by thieves. Also, some season or months do not favour the crops. Farmers work hard, but crops do not grow as expected, this brings a lot of loss.

In conclusion, Gloucester village in Freetown Sierra Leone is a vibrant and culturally diverse neighbourhood that offers a unique blend of local experiences.  From it predominant activity (farming) and friendly community to it natural beauty, there is actually something for everyone to enjoy. So, if you ever find yourself in Freetown, make sure you visit Gloucester village and join yourself into a lively atmosphere.