Agriculture is the main source of income for the majority of the inhabitants of Selea-Bambao. Throughout many decades, the citizens of Selea have been continuously depending on their local farmers to grow food for the purpose of feeding their families. It was the only means, in which many people in the Village nourished their family units on a daily bases. During the past 100 years, farming in the village enjoyed a deep respect among the inhabitants of Selea, unfortunately, nowadays; farming has very little inspiration among the new generation.

Nowadays young people have little regard for farming even although they don’t have other alternatives to feed themselves and families. Modern day illusive lifestyle keep the minds of young people busy and away from cultivating local resources and generating employments. Overlooked the farming process in the region has resulted a hardship in many people's lives without being able to pin down other alternatives.

The old generations enjoyed and loved the farming profession and never failed even a day to feed their family members. The inhabitants of the Village never experience any shortage of food and children never go through hunger or suffer from malnutrition. In contrast with new generation cultivating the land has been abandoned and seen as a primitive profession, while the consumption of food is increasing daily.

Who are the farmers in the Village?

The farming process in the village is usually conducted by the head of each family and its male members. The farming method is quite slow and an exhausting process. This is simply because of the lack of efficient farming tools and equipment. This also would discourage many people from cultivating the land and generating their own resources, or even help those who love to do the job

Farming in Selea is generally conducted by individuals using their own pieces of land to grow vegetables of all sorts, fruits and other crops. Subsistence farming is the most common, in which the farmer’s family is top priority and so receives most of the harvest. In the past, there was a surplus of produce therefore farmers may put up their best fruits, Vegetable and all the other kind of foodstuff for sale in local markets. The main purpose of this is to generate a bit of money to buy other living essentials such as household items, building materials for houses and clothes for the family. Often, however, food was plenty as most families had a good yield of crops and so food wouldn’t sell. This was visible as food would rot. Nowadays, this is not the case. Farmers struggle to grow sufficient produce to feed their families let alone sell it.

Although farming is a responsibility for the males, some women may attempt to take part. But farming still relies heavily on the men, particularly the middle aged and the elderly. Quite the contrary for some other Villages in Grande Comore, the female members of the families are the ones, who normally conduct the farming duties. However in Selea women hardly, participate in farming practices.

Since practically every Grande Comorian household owns a piece of land, there are no restrictions on how one should use their piece of land. This has made the process of farming to sound quite easy and simple. However, it is not the case! The main problem with the farming procedures in Grande Comore in general is the lack of equipment, knowledge of farming, lack of support from government and co-operation between individuals.

During farming the wide majority of farmers use their bare hands with very basic homemade tools to do the job. Perhaps this is a critical problem facing those would like to take the profession seriously.

In the Bambao region, where Selea is situated, farming can be quite a difficult task to perform, especially in the central part of the region. The land is slightly rocky and uneven. To maintain a proper farming routine in the distric, requires physical strength, courage and the ability of doing the job.

Some regions in Grande Comore, farming is much, much easier. The land is more fertile and productive. Nevertheless, farming in Grande Comore is a difficult task to execute. It requires physical strength and the ability of maintaining a daily routine.

The Farming Process

The process involves cutting trees, removing stones and burning branches along with leaves. Removing tree roots, deep routed grass and weeding. It is almost impossible for one man to prepare 5 square metres of land a day without relaying on the help of others. It is a labour-intensive activity but often done by one man.

The ground is quite tough to cultivate in the region of Bambao as it is dominated by Coco Nuts, Mangos trees and many other types of trees. These cause land degradation due to soil erosion and soil exhaustion. This makes farming and growing crops extremely laborious and decrease in productivity.

It was quite common for many people during the farming season to invite most of the male member of the village to help and complete the farming process swiftly. However, it is highly expected to reward the people who come to give hand. Satisfying and pleasing the people whom invited to help can be a quite simple task. Basically, one needs to provide a nice cooked meal of Rice with plenty of Meat and other type delicious stews.

Planting and growing Crops

Crops can be planted and grown throughout the year around, however careful consideration must be observed in case of heavy rain and strong winds.

The most popular crops farmers would grow are: banana plants, cassavas, yams sweet-potatoes and corn. Other crops include beans, rice, peas, coffee, tomatoes exotic fruit such as pineapple, berries, papaya, breadfruit and jack fruit. Many other tropical fruits can be also grown, but not in large quantities. It is all depend on the individual abilities and determination.

Who takes foodstuff the markets to sale?

In the process of buying and selling food in Grande Comore, women play a crucial role; they are the ones, who run most activities of buying and selling in all markets on the Island. Male farmers are unable to deal directly with buyers in markets. They rely on their wives to take this responsibility. It is well known fact in the Island that women are very good in buying and selling.

Does the Government provide any help or support for farmers?

It would be so nice if it was the case; unfortunately, it is highly unlikely for many farmers to get assistance from the government. Farmers expect the government to find buyers who are willing to buy some of their products such as Vanilla, cloves and Ylang-ylang. These are considered as precious commodities not only by Comorians but also elsewhere around the world. Unfortunately, these expectations always end in bitter disappointment. Farmers cannot get the opportunity to sell their crops abroad as government never makes any impact through their trading negotiations in the international markets. This would leave the farmers with very restrictive and unprofitable choices. The only option they are left with is to keeping their crops at home hoping that something may change in their favour. It has been always the same predicament for many Comorian farmers every year since. Middlemen come to the village promising too buy these crops but they fail to deliver. They either don’t buy anything or take good and promise to pay later but they never pay. At most they pay very little price for the goods. Other times Vanilla was used directly to buy household commodities.
The situation is not improving but is in fact deteriorating. The few people, who still feel proud of this profession, began to feel desperate and obliged to find other ways of making a living.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ylang-ylang

One of the most popular fruit in my Villages in Grand Comore.

It 's called in the local language : Puwapayi

Agriculture in the Village of Selea