“I Never Imagined Harvesting 10 Bags of Onions” – Kanku Fatty

For eight years, every planting season began the same way for Kanku Fatty. She would walk into her garden in Niamina Misira, Central River Region South, holding onto the hope that this year’s onion harvest would finally bring meaningful change to her family.

But year after year, that hope slowly faded.

No matter how hard she worked, the results were discouraging. Most seasons, her harvest amounted to little more than a single bucket of onions, hardly enough to reward months of labour under the scorching sun.

“I had almost accepted that this was the best we could do,” Kanku says quietly.

Then everything changed.

Through the Strengthening CSO Support and Advocacy for the Sustainable Production and Use of Organic Fertiliser (SAPOF) Project, supported by the European Union and implemented by ActionAid International The Gambia, Kanku and other women gardeners received training in climate-friendly farming and organic fertiliser production.

For many in the community, it was their first real introduction to sustainable organic farming methods built around local knowledge and locally available resources.

At first, Kanku was unsure about the new approach.

“Before ActionAid’s intervention, we were gardening, but we did not really understand the proper methods. We depended on chemical fertilisers and did not know how to make organic compost or natural pesticides,” she explains.

That soon began to change.

Through practical, hands-on training, Kanku learned how to produce organic fertiliser using animal waste and water-based composting methods. She also learned how to prepare natural pesticides to protect crops without relying on harmful chemicals.

More importantly, she gained confidence in her ability to farm differently and successfully.

Today, standing in her store looking at the bags of onions she once struggled to produce, Kanku smiles at a harvest she once believed was out of reach.

For the first time in eight years, she harvested 10 bags of onions.

“Since I started cultivating onions, I had never harvested more than a bucket full. But through this support, I harvested 10 bags of onions for the first time in eight years. This is something I never imagined possible,” she says proudly.

Kanku’s achievement reflects a wider change taking place across the Niamina Misira garden.

Other women gardeners are also recording bumper harvests of onions and vegetables, helping to improve household incomes and strengthen food security for their families.

The impact forms part of the broader work of the SAPOF project, which has so far trained more than 650 rural farmers, including persons with disabilities, across the Central River Region and North Bank Region in sustainable agriculture and organic fertiliser production.

The project has also established three gardens, including the thriving Niamina Misira garden, and constructed three compost chambers. Work is currently underway to establish two additional gardens to expand opportunities for more rural communities.

For Kanku, however, the project’s impact goes far beyond agriculture.

“ActionAid established this garden for us from scratch, provided the materials we needed, and trained us on compost making and climate-friendly agriculture. No one has ever given us this kind of support before.”

Her words speak not only of gratitude but of renewed hope and confidence.

What once seemed impossible has become a powerful reminder that when rural women are given the right support, knowledge, and opportunities, they can transform both their harvests and their futures.

As Kanku carefully sorts through her onions, she pauses and smiles.

“We now have something we never had before: knowledge, confidence, and better harvests. We are deeply grateful.”

For Kanku and the women of Niamina Misira, those ten bags of onions represent far more than a successful harvest.

They are a symbol of possibility.