17 Sep 2015

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture Mr Fidelis Molao has advised Batswana to be honest when they apply for the available citizen empowerment programmes especially ISPAAD and LIMID.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting he addressed in Digawana on September 16, Mr Molao said he is aware that some farmers across the country use ghost farmers to fraudulently benefit from the ISPAAD programme. The minister said the fraudsters usually, commercial farmers,make as if they have leased several hectare fields within their farms to some other small farmers, with a view to defraud government.

Since government pays a tractor owner for each hectare ploughed for an individual farmer, he said the intention is for the tricksters to get paid for each field they have registered as if it belonged to someone else.

By so doing, he said the perpetrators, avoid using the available facilities intended for commercial farmers which require them to contribute part of the cost thus end up ploughing their big farms for free through an initiative tailor-made for subsistence farmers not them.

He said the programme is intended to benefit small farmers and warned them to refrain from the habit adding that it is corruption. If caught, he warned they would face the might of the law.

Mr Molao further said other farmers cheat government through the LIMID programme. He said some livestock owners connive with LIMID beneficiaries to unscrupulously benefit from government. He said a beneficiary would pretend to be purchasing livestock through the programme but after all the formalities get a bribe, in lieu of the animals, from the supposed seller.

Mr Molao said the culprits are undermining government efforts to better the lives of Batswana and advised them to refrain from the practice.

He has also advised Batswana who have benefited from government assistance programmes to work hard to improve their lives and do away with the “entitlement mind-set”. Mr Molao has also urged farmers in the Southern district to utilise their ploughing fields or lease them to capable others. He said only 31 per cent of the fields are in optimal use in district.

Meanwhile the district agricultural coordinator Mr Gwilizani Maposa has explained that his ministry has in the past been unsuccessful negotiating with suppliers to allow farmers to pay for fencing materials under ISPAAD with instalments. He said the suppliers fear there is no guarantee that the farmers will honour the payment contracts.

Mr Maposa was answering a question from a resident Mr Tshenolo Baleseng.He said paying full price upfront denies some farmers the opportunity to benefit from the programme. Ends