06 Mar 2022

Ledaba Horticulture Association is on course to help farmers produce high grade vegetables in large quantities in order to satisfy the market.

The association’s chairperson Mr Bajaki Mazebedi said in an interview, post the workshop organised to teach farmers about horticulture, that it was through reflection that they saw the need to move a notch up in terms of quality and quantity of their produce.

The association holds that high grade produce supplied in large quantities to the market will ward off competition from supermarkets.

However, efforts to produce top quality harvest in large quantities has been curtailed by, among others, pests and ignorance, according to observation and confirmation from the interviewees.

“A lot of farmers had planted tomatoes and cabbage, but we ended up losing our produce to pests such as diamondback moth.

We then invited experts in pesticides and seeds to come shed light on how we could improve our yield amidst these challenges,” Mr Mazebedi explained.

He argued that the pests affected the quality of the produce, which renders the latter unattractive to the market.

“We want to improve the quality of the produce so that after harvesting we can take only grade one vegetables to the market,” Mr Mazebedi said.

Although they strive for high quality production of vegetables, it is not easy for farmers to access chemicals suitable for combating the pests.

The closest the farmers can get suitable chemicals is either Francistown or Palapye, according.

The association, therefore, invited Agrichem personnel to help not only with chemical provision, but also with training the farmers, who are reportedly taking the trade in big numbers following the ban on the importation of some vegetables.

The association will also engage other experts in horticulture as they alternate farms to drill farmers on how best they could realise best quality produce in an area that is endowed with abundant ground water.

“Since the closure of borders to vegetable imports there are so many people trying to do farming, but they are not producing quality product because they are starting incorrectly,” Ms Hylette Paxton of Agrichem Francistown said.

She observed that the new entrants were lacking knowledge on how and where to start horticulture.

Despite lacking in the knowledge, Ms Paxton, in her daily interactions with them, found farmers to be ‘very’ positive.

“The quality of the product is not great because they have been competing with established supermarkets. Give them time,” she asserted.

She said with the right input and direction the keen, young farmers would achieve the quality and quantity.

“They might not produce the volumes, but with time and learning they will get there, don’t expect it overnight,” she said.

For his part, Ganadafa Farm owner, in whose property the workshop was, Mr Mooketsi Mathiba said, “We must endeavour to tap on this opportunity to feed the nation,” referring to the ban on some imported vegetables.

He, however, conceded that horticulture farmers were yet to satisfy the market. ENDS