28 Aug 2016

The Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has informed residents of Sehithwa and the surrounding villages that  government intended to introduce fish farming with an aim to take fish business to another level.

He said they intended to construct big industries which could feed Batswana first and sell surplus to countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Vice President told residents during a kgotla meeting when briefing them about poverty eradication programme adding that fish farming and provision of layers (koko tsa mae) were new  projects under the programme.

He explained that fish farming was profitable and easily manageable. He said eventually they wanted communities to move away from the traditional way where they fished from the lake as they wanted them to do projects in their homestead.

“Rapelang gore lecha la Lake Ngami le tshele so that we expand fish by ensuring sustainability. We want fish to benefit the locals and foreigners should buy from Batswana,” he added.

He said even the pricing of fish should  be the one that gives dignity and aims to take the industry to greater heights. He said if the lake dries up, beneficiaries should be able to sustain fish and ensure it multiply.

Regarding introduction of layers, the poverty eradication coordinator from Office of the President, Mr Richard Matlhare said the initiative was piloted at Okavango district noting that each beneficiary would be given 50 hens and feeds.

He said the eggs would be sold to schools, government departments and the community at large.

He said to fast track implementation, they had allocated budget to district commissioner's offices and also hired some social workers to work hand in hand with district coordinators.

However, Vice President Masisi explained that the government was stepping up efforts of eradicating poverty country wide and urged the communities to take advantage of the packages in place as the programme was coming to an end next year March.

He urged beneficiaries to show commitment so that the programme produced the expected results. He informed the gathering that the poverty eradication battle needed a collective effort between the government and the communities in order to win.

He further noted that if people could work hard and ensure good progress, they would come up with new initiatives to augment their efforts adding that they wanted to see Batswana graduate from poverty and their businesses grow so that they created jobs for others.

Mr Masisi said the government spent close to P1 billion every year to buy food for prisoners, hospitals, Botswana Defence Force and noted that they could benefit from the budget.

Earlier on, Village Development Committee chairperson, Ms Maletelo Molatlhiwa complained about the slow implementation of the programme in Sehithwa and surrounding villages.

She noted that most beneficiaries were assisted through LIMID programme. She said 153 were from Sehithwa, 55 from Bodiebeng, 88 from Semboyo, 71 from Kareng, 107 from Toteng, 32 from Makakung while 38 were from Bothatogo.

Other packages that the communities benefited from include Tswana chickens, backyard gardening and fashion design. Ms Molatlhiwa noted that backyard gardens were doing badly while designers were faced with a challenge of market. ENDS