26 Feb 2015

Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ralotsia has encouraged Mosisedi dry land farmers not to despair, but to be optimistic that the next season would be better than the current rainless one.

Mr Ralotsia was addressing Mosisedi farmers during their monthly meetings over the weekend. The assistant minister said it was only farmers who have a thick skin, who would get back to the fields next season to plough considering the situation at hand now.

Mr Ralotsia, who took time to tour the farms, said he got first hand information, witnessed and indeed agreed with the farmers that they had been hit hard by the lack of rains.

He said though the season had not been declared a drought season, the signs were evident enough. However, he called on the farmers to exercise patience as the assessment team was about to go on field to assess the situation and bring about a report which would inform the ministry whether to declare a drought year or not.

He said it was very important for his ministry to develop a standing drought strategy which would always be in place and used whenever the country experiences drought.

The assistant minister also applauded the farmers for having a registered farmers association, a clear indication that they were working as a group.

The world over, he said, people achieved better results when working as a group, adding that developed countries have also shown interest in assisting working groups than individuals. 

Mr Ralotsia also advised farmers to manage their waste well as research has proved that waste management was one of the main causes of heat wave.

One farmer, Mr Oarabile Dingalo stressed that the situation at their farm was quite distressing and if not handled well, could discourage especially young and upcoming farmers to venture into large scale farming for a living.

Mr Dingalo said farmers are quite a unique type of people who need to exercise extreme patience and endurance. Farmers, he said most of the times rely on the possibility of a good harvest which only comes on possibilities of good weather characterised by good rains.

The lack of rains this season, he said had been a morale killing factor in trying to move forward with their commercial feeding with the intent to feed the nation.

Another farmer, Mr Jan Cronje advised fellow farmers that while the weather was the main determiner of good harvest, however they needed to practice the correct methods of farming which had been outlined.

Mr Cronje implored farmers to work cooperatively with the ministry and apply the technical skills provided by the officials. He said it was very important to engage professionals for advice on issues such as mapping, to ensure that the farms were viable to bring about good harvest.

Mosisedi farmers had been farming in the fields for the past three years after allocation by government. The last season saw these farmers smiling all the way to the bank after a bountiful harvest which gave them the      morale to expand last year’s ploughing field to a larger size that was drying up.

Most farmers who had plunged over P2 million secured from the banks in ploughing and expected double the amount in return can only look at their drying fields and hope for rain.

The farmers can only now pin their hopes on the Agricultural Credit Guarantee scheme (AGCS) in the event that government declares this year, a drought one. Through the scheme provided by the National Development Bank (NDB) and the Citizen Enterprenuership Development Agency (CEDA), a farmer pays back 15 per cent of the loan while government subsidises with an 85 per cent payment. ENDS