14 Jan 2014

The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe has implored residents of Tamasane to take farming seriously, saying it has the potential to eradicate poverty and diversify the economy.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Tamasane on January 13, Dr Kedikilwe said farming could also help in the creation of employment.

He said government, through the revised Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD), aimed at increasing food production as well as empowering citizens by encouraging government institutions and parastatal organisations to purchase produce from local farmers.

In addition,  he said government intended to commercialise arable farming and establish processing centres where agricultural produce could be processed.

Dr Kedikilwe, who is also the MP for Mmadinare, said government was investing in arable farming so that the country could become self-sufficient in food. He added that that was the reason the government was distributing free seeds and fertilisers to farmers.

The Vice President noted that in the 2011/2012 crop season, 341 000 hectares were planted by 105 000 farmers.  On other issues, Dr Kedikilwe encouraged Tamasane  residents to make use of poverty eradication programmes and urged the village leadership to ensure that the community benefitted from such programmes.

For their part, residents complained about livestock which destroy their crops. One resident, Mr Malebogo Gaofetoge said the area had experienced good rains and that farmers had planted their fields.

However, he said the challenge was that residents did not take care of their livestock, which ended up destroying their crops. He suggested that government should come up with stringent measures to punish livestock owners who left their animals to go astray.

Kgosi Roman Mpule of Tamasane also said livestock owners did not cooperate with arable farmers during the planting season. He confirmed the challenge of stray livestock which destroy crops, saying ‘some farmers in Tamasane did not take care of their livestock.’

Dr Kedikilwe said livestock owners should bear in mind that the government invested a lot of money on farming. The Vice President said if the situation persisted, it would  compel government to come up with new laws that would empower dikgosi to take stringent action against those who left their livestock to destroy people’s crops. ENDS