03 Feb 2021

There are two irrigation projects long Madikwe River.

The  two agricultural projects are Mathubudukwane and Ramonaka Irrigation projects.
Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Karabo Gare informed Parliament that Mathubudukwane project was initially funded through the Poverty Eradication Programme.

Mr Gare said the project was allocated 11 hectares of which six hectares was fenced and currently under production by four young farmers.

He explained that the Ramonaka Horticultural Management Association was initially funded by the European Union for the project and was allocated six hectares of which two hectares was under production by the association.

Mr Gare explained that there were two new funding facilities that horticulture farmers, including those in the river villages, could benefit from. He said these were the Impact Accelerator Subsidy and the Interest Rate Subsidy under the ISPAAD Horticulture Programme.

Mochudi East MP, Mr Mabuse Pule had asked the minister if he would consider revisiting the economic empowerment programmes such as ISPAAD and cluster programmes as part of the economic transformation for river villages given that the areas had good soils and adequate water supply from Madikwe River and to further state progress made so far in that regard. ENDS