Lessons of the Fundamentals of Economics
At the end of the rains the President of the Republic declared that he has produced 25,000 tons of rice for the 2009 farming season. He indicated that if others followed his footsteps Gambia will head towards self sufficiency in food production. After making the announcement it did not take long for the President to have a series of interviews with Modou Sanyang, the Director General of GRTS, during which he lamented the lack of farm hands to harvest the crops that were ripe. He therefore called on people of good will in the Gambia, in particular, and the neighbouring communities, in general, to go to his farms to assist with the harvesting. Few days later reports had it that some members of the security force, some representatives from public enterprises, some farmers from the North Bank mobilized by the Governor and finally followers of the Mouride sect have gone to the various farms of the President to harvest the crops.

The President appeared that he was not satisfied. He went on air again to tell people that only 25 percent of the crops have been harvested and called on people to turn up in large numbers before the crops become dry which makes the harvesting to be more complicated. He praised the leader of the Mouride sect in Senegal for calling on his followers in the Gambia to assist him in his farms. Representatives of the sect began to make general mobilisation through the electronic media. They are praised for hard work and for obeying the call of the leader of their sect. The president called for proper arrangement to be made so that transports could be provided for the trip to Kanilai. He also promised to provide ingredients for the preparation of the food for the labourers.
We will report on the turn out and the progress made in harvesting the crops at the farm of the President.
Our objective in this issue is to rely on the dilemma of the President to teach the fundamental lessons of Economics. Economic science teaches us that there is both small scale production and large scale production in farming. Subsistence or hand to mouth agriculture depends on small scale farming with crude tools and little usage of inputs, like fertilizer. This is the type of farming which has been nurturing poverty in the rural areas. Large scale production however depends on either the massive mobilisation of labour power using crude tools and intensive usage of farm inputs like fertilizer or the use of machinery to replace human labour power.
Large scale mobilisation of labour power to do Agriculture has been done in many forms. Early human settlements headed by the elders of clans often engaged in cooperative agriculture for the common survival of the clan. In modern times cooperative agriculture had been utilised to overcome the problem the president is experiencing, that is, to have a large scale farms without enough labour hands to harvest the crops. These cooperative farms engaged in large scale farming and employ cooperative labour for mutual benefit. This is one form of large scale production which could be free from the problem the president is experiencing.
Secondly, history has also taught us that large scale agriculture has been done by relying on the labour of slaves. Such large scale farming based on forced labour could only exist for a time. Finally rebellion against slavery made it impossible for it to be sustained. There is also the era when large scale farms were established by feudal lords who gave small portions to serfs who provided them with labour hands to maintain their large scale holdings. Mechanisation in farming eventually made the serf redundant as fewer labour hands were needed to operate machines. This gave rise to the era when farm enterprises are established which employ few labour hands to operate machines to produce large quantities of farm produce and seasonal workers are hired to harvest the crops. Such farms do not experience the dilemma the president is experiencing
The reason for this is clear. The President is relying on voluntary labour to try to harvest 25,000 tons of agricultural produce, if his figures are to go by. Just as rain fed agriculture depends on the vagaries of the weather large scale agriculture which depends on voluntary labour also depends on the whims of the volunteers. This type of labour is unreliable and unsustainable. Hence, the President would ultimately have to decide whether to give the lands back to the communities so that they could engage in cooperative farming for their mutual benefit or turn to mechanized farming and well paid farm hands to do his farming for him. The continuation of large scale farming based on voluntary labour is unreliable and unsustainable.