Creating sustainable job opportunities, food security
IN A quest to create sustainable job opportunities and increased access to sufficient and nutritious food, particularly among rural communities, MEC Desbo Mohono of the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development last month handed over two agricultural projects to beneficiaries in the rural Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district municipality.
These were the Tshepanang Poultry Trust Project and Thota ya Tau Fish Harvest Primary Co-operative.
The poultry project is a Vryburgbased establishment specialising in chickens for production of meat and eggs. The company was established in 2006 and currently has 14 active members.
It was initiated by members of the community in an effort to enhance and improve productivity of various agricultural commodities. The department, in turn, through its farmer support programme, provided infrastructure funding and capacity-building programmes for the beneficiaries.
The project was funded R600 000 during the 2019/20 financial year to build a fully-fledged 5 000 broiler unit and water storage. Through government aid, it is now producing between 3 000 and 5 000 chickens per cycle and selling their produce to the community and local businesses.
The second project handed over, the Thota ya Tau Fish Harvest Primary Co-operative, is a Taung-based aquaculture establishment. It started in 2015 and has 10 members.
It was funded by more than R1 million through the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme during the 2018/19 financial year to continue harvesting fish and selling it to local markets. Through the funding, the department constructed a 2-hectare security fence for the project, built ablution facilities with septic tank, purchased a vehicle for the project, and constructed an office and tanks for water storage.
When handing over the projects, MEC Mohono said her department has a constitutional responsibility to use public funds to respond to the needs of the people by supporting them, especially rural communities and co-operatives, to produce their own income through agriculture.
“Handing over of these projects will also add to existing opportunities in the sector and will also ensure that the beneficiaries are financially independent and self-sustained.
“I have high expectations that the beneficiaries will continue to maintain these projects at high standards and that the yield of quality agricultural products will grow steadily thus improving their livelihood and that of the communities.
“There will be challenges. .. but it is important that people continue to work hard to produce food and to sell to the markets,” said Mohono.
Kelesitse Beauty Baatege, of the poultry trust, and Tebogo Matlonoko, of the fish co-operative, thanked the MEC and the department’s team for ensuring the project was completed.
The handing over is part of the support that the department is giving to farmers to enable them to farm optimally and sustainably which will translate into the improvement of the livelihoods of the farmers and surrounding communities.
The department has been engaged with the roll-out of infrastructural development, the purchasing of implements and machinery, production inputs, and farmer support for smallholder farmers across the province. |