20 Mar 2022

 Government has come up with programmes and initiatives to attain food security, says Tonota Sub-District Council chairperson, Mr Christjan Machokoto.

Speaking during Temo-Boswa Farmers Association's farm walk in Makomoto, Mabole and Makhubu in Tonota East extension area, Mr Machokoto said the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) programme for horticulture has been upgraded.

He said the goal was to encourage farmers to work harder and produce more harvest.

Mr Machokoto also said government was reviewing the dry land farming programme and that a new initiative would be rolled out towards the end of the year.

He said a lot of funds had been injected into the programme but that it was not bearing fruit as expected.

“Government has also closed borders for the importation of some vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, onion, cabbage, green pepper and others to protect local farmers,” he said

He encouraged them to work with experts on farming in order to produce more with less resources and land.

He also urged farmers to keep records and to open business accounts with banks.

The chairperson of Temo-Boswa, Mr Nchenje Mogapi said the objective of the day was to gather farmers together as well as stakeholders so that they could appreciate farmers challenges.

One of the objectives was to give farmers an opportunity to meet with stakeholders and to get first-hand information and responses to their queries said Mr Mogapu

He also said they want to upskill small scale farmers to move from small scale to medium scale producers.

He said the other objective was to give farmers an opportunity to network and to know each other as they prepare for the harvest day that billed for July 7.

Farmers also had the opportunity to learn how to deal with pests.ENDS