12 Aug 2018

Fourteen Parakarungu residents have formed a multipurpose cooperative  called Parakarungu Fish Farmers which has been funded through the Poverty Eradication Programme.

The aim is to start a fish pond that will supply fish locally and countrywide as well as create employment.

In an interview, the district poverty eradication coordinator, Ms Bontle Mmokele said the process of choosing beneficiaries was done through the help of village leaders such as dikgosi and social workers so that they could identify the right candidates.

She said selection started in  2016  with 100 candidates but was later trimmed to 14. 

Ms Mmokele said the fish pond project was already underway as the area where it would be constructed had been cleared, and that the project was at tendering stage.

For his part, Mr Stanley Matengu, one of the beneficiaries, said he was happy to be part of the team which benefited from the project, saying they would work hard so that the project became a success. 

Mr Matengu said their target was to supply all the lodges in Parakarungu and the Chobe District with fish.

He said the fish pond was a blessing to Parakarungu  because fish would always be available.

“Not only will 14 of us benefit as we are going to employ others, especially the youth because this is a big project and we are going to need manpower,” he said.

At the fishers meeting organised by the Office of the President and the poverty eradication office in Parakarungu, Ms Mmokele revealed that local fishers would also be assisted with boats, fish nets and trucks among other materials so that they could do their jobs properly.  She said government had also signed a memorandum of agreement with commercial fishers in the Linyanti area to allow local farmers to do fishing activities there because the Parakarungu River was seasonal and local fishers suffered when the water dried.

At the same meeting representatives from CEDA and LEA equipped the fishers and the fish pond project beneficiaries with skills on how to run their business. ENDS