Gov�t to blacklist negligent farmers
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Wednesday June 14, 2017 17:34
Ralotsia said this at the Farmers Day held at Mookane last weekend. The event was held under the theme, ‘Conservation Farming and Fodder Production’. He said government introduced the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) to subsidise farming in an effort to improve food security in the country. However, he said many people neglect their fields immediately after ploughing, costing government a lot of money.
“It is a concern because many people plough through the ISPAAD problem. They send their family members to plough on their behalf and never go back to take care of the fields. We are wasting government resources. This also shows the kind of person you are if you neglect your field,” he said.
He continued: “Those who don’t look after their fields once they have been assisted under the programme will be not be assisted in the future. We have instructed the agricultural officers to note them.”
Ralotsia said this defeats government’s efforts to improve food security in the country. He added that the same concern has been raised with regard to the Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID). The latter is a programme whereby government assists farmers with different packages to improve their living standards and livestock husbandry practices.
“They tell Agric officers that your livestock has been killed by wild animals or has strayed,” he added. Recently, the permanent secretary at the Agricultural Development and Food Security ministry, Boipelelo Khumomatlhare told the Public Accounts Committee that they have instructed officers to blacklist farmers who are negligent. He said government has realised that there is a lot of input subsidy but production has not improved.
He said currently the average cereal yield per hectare stands at two tonnes, which is not enough. Khumomatlhare said their target is to increase production from two to eight tonnes per hectare. He stated that this could only be achieved through conservation agriculture and farmers utilising subsidy inputs.