24 Sep 2020

With the high appetite for small stock meat both locally and internationally, those engaged in the business stand a chance of running worthwhile ventures.

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi says this realisation, coupled with government’s resolve to empower citizens and his efforts to support the agriculture ministry towards attainment of food security, led to the personal initiative assist farmers showing potential and enthusiasm for small stock farming.

Ms Thabiso Makwati, 70, of Ngonaajuu cattle post near Dimajwe, was one of the 14 farmers President Masisi donated small stock to this week.

President Masisi said the donations also afforded him the chance to visit and motivate Batswana as well as to appreciate how they lived.

Ms Makwati, a beneficiary of the Gender Affairs Programme, said she started with 15 goats which had now reached 26.

She said she exchanged some of her goats for a cow and thanked President Masisi for the buck he donated to her on Wednesday.

Thirty-one-year-old Ms Gaone Ditshwailwe of Mogorosi is another farmer visited by President Masisi on Wednesday.

She received a Kalahari red buck that the President said was meant to substantially improve the productivity and profitability of her stock.

Dr Masisi commended Ms Ditshwailwe for having taken advantage of the Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) programme to better her life.

Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Karabo Gare encouraged Ms Ditshwailwe to adopt modern technologies to cut business costs.

“You should have a commercial sense of how best to manage your expenses in order to cut costs. Also try to work closely with agriculture officials to improve your farming skills,” advised Mr Gare.

Ms Ditshwailwe, who was accompanied by her mother, Ms Gabatholane Mosethe thanked President Masisi for the gift.

Kgosi Kago Pheretlhego of Mogorosi hailed the President’s initiative for what it aimed to achieve. ends