26 Mar 2019

Malete Land Board is worried about unused ploughing fields despite shortage of locally produced food.

This was said by Malete Land Board chairperson, Ms Philda Kereng during a stakeholders workshop in Otse recently.

She said there was ample unused land which could be used to address unemployment and also help the country to be self-sufficient in food production.

She regretted that although there were those utilising their fields, they only did so for subsistence purposes. She challenged all stakeholders to start regarding the sector in business terms.

Ms Kereng observed that the country’s food import bill was huge, and was helping to create employment in other countries.

She stated that the country, through National Development Plan 11 (NDP 11), had laid down its development path and had come up with programmes and projects to develop people.

 Ms Kereng said the country needed to diversify from diamonds, emphasising that agriculture was one of the sectors that could develop the country.

She noted that government had come up with various programmes to empower people in the agriculture sector.

The land board chairperson, however, regretted that some programmes were not bearing fruit, as some young people were idling while others took projects only for them to fail.

A horticulture officer from the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Kgololo Kesekang said the country was not food secure, and that it continued to depend on other countries to feed its population.

 He said this called for farmers to seize the opportunity and start producing enough food for themselves and for trade.

 Mr Kesekang said the country exported millions of jobs as the agriculture sector employed many people.

Another officer from the same ministry, Ms Mmamosadi Phofu encouraged farmers to keep their animals healthy, saying it was better to prevent animal diseases than curing them.

She noted that animal diseases affected the value of the animals, and pointed out that heart water and New Castle disease were the main diseases affecting the district.

During comments, some farmers said government should  evaluate its empowerment programmes regarding the youth to determine if the move had borne fruit. ENDS