08 Feb 2021

Farmers in Kgophane lands in the Mahetlwe extension area have hailed the recent good rains and brace for a good harvest.

  However, farmers are skeptical about their gains since the COVID-19 pandemic has eroded the buying power of many. The introduction of levies proposed by Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka also paint a gloomy picture for production with input costs bound to escalate.

  Although subsistence farming has always proved unsustainable, farmers are of the view that if challenges are not dealt with, young people will continue to shun farming and consequently fail to be food secure as a nation.

Mr Joseph Tshireletso, a farmer in Kgophane said in an interview that the recent changes in the ISPAAD programme whereby small-scale farmers were assisted with seeds to plough disadvantaged those farmers who were committed and always produced good results. He appealed to government to assess farmers according to their output.

He also said although most parts of the country received good rains, farmers were given seeds late and as a result most had ploughed late. 

However, he pointed out that levies were going to affect their profits since they would not be able to increase prices given the situation prevailing on the ground.

He said they would be forced to sell their produce at low prices despite increasing transport costs in order to prevent their produce going to waste. He has, however, welcomed government’s proposal to review the ISPAAD programme and assist farmers based on their output. Nonetheless, he said extension officers should assist since they worked with farmers directly.

In order to improve food production, Mr Tshireletso encouraged farmers to go back to indigenous seeds and preserve them. He said the pandemic has demonstrated that we could no longer continue importing food from other countries.

Ms Rebecca Morwaakgang also welcomed government’s view on assisting farmers in relation to their output. She said farmers who had demonstrated commitment with a good track record should be recognised and assisted with inputs in order to capacitate them. She also stated that farming had many challenges which  included pricing, pests, bad roads and many other things outweigh the gains hence youth would continue to shun farming.

Although she appreciated the good rains, she said most of her harvest would go to waste because of the continuous downpours making it hard for her to harvest in time and take produce to the market before it dries up.

Mr Letlhogile Baikanne, also from Kgophane lands, was adamant that they would have a bumper harvest this year due to the good rains. He said although his family had been farming  for home consumption, they hoped to sell their produce and earn income. He urged farmers to take care of their crops because the pandemic has hit households hard. ends