19 Feb 2015

Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele has confirmed to Parliament that tractor drivers for the ISPAAD programme are hired every year just before the cropping season.

Dr Madigele, who was answering a question on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, said the approach was a result of the fact that the ploughing and planting activities run for only five months from October to mid–February after which tractors are then not as engaged as during the cropping season.

He said hiring tractor drivers permanently would therefore result in them idling most of the time, when the tractors were not fully engaged.

The tractor drivers, he said, were however trained before they were engaged in order to ensure proper and efficient use of the implements.

Tati West MP, Mr Biggie Butale had asked if the minister would consider employing the same tractor drivers throughout the year as opposed to the current system of hiring new drivers every year who had to learn on the job and end up destroying the tractors due to continued apprenticeship.ENDS