22 Jun 2014

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi has asked farmers who utilise the Intergraded Support for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) programme to buy row planting equipment on time to make preparations for the 2014/2015 ploughing season.

He said the government has made its final decision to compel farmers who plough under ISPAAD programme to row plant. Mr Molebatsi said this when addressing a series of kgotla meetings in Tswapong south recently. He said farmers should appreciate the benefits of row planting over broadcasting.

He said ISPAAD was introduced to help farmers produce their own food, but that the government had realised that the results were not satisfactory and there was a need to make change. Mr Molebatsi also said farmers were given enough time to prepare for the changes in the ISPAAD programme and should have bought the equipment for row planting.

He however said he was optimistic that many tractor owners have bought the ploughing equipment as they used it during the 2013/2014 ploughing season. Although some farmers said that they did not have row planting equipment, and that it was not going to be easy for them to row plant, Mr Molebatsi said the government was using a lot of money the programme and there had to be results. ENDS