13 Mar 2014

Youthful Mosisedi farmers have commended government through the Ministry of Agriculture for having leased farms to young people in the Mosi-Sedibeng area.

Speaking in an interview recently, Mr Tlhalefo Potso said it was brave and visionary for the government to have set aside some farms for leasing to the youth to encourage them to go into farming.

He described the move as a serious show of commitment to food production in Botswana. Mr Potso commended government for initiating the partnership between CEDA and farmers that he viewed as a giant step in the right direction.

The liaison would give farmers business mentorship they needed from business advisors, which he was optimistic, would lure more Batswana to venture into farming as a business and scale up efforts to feed the nation.

The animal science degree holder said he obtained a P500 000 loan for inputs from CEDA’s Young Farmers Fund and topped up with a P20 000 from his savings to start the farming business.

Unfortunately, he complained, most of the money went to de-bushing instead of production. He asked the government to capture wild animals such as baboons and kudus and transfer them to game reserves because they destroyed crops.

Another young farmer, Mr Duncan Ramooki, also commended government for having leased farms to young farmers, an enabler that would help them help themselves.

Meanwhile, Mrs Keitumetse Kgautlhe, the only woman farmer who was also awarded a farm in the area, urged other women to take advantage of government’s initiatives rather than taking a back seat.

For a widowed woman, struggling to raise her children by herself, to be awarded a farm, she said, was testimony that government programmes, initiatives and interventions were meant for every citizen regardless of station in life.

Three out of the 18 farms were wholly leased to young farmers while another young farmer had partnered with his father. Ends