Horticulture yields poor harvest in Mmadinare
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday August 1, 2017 16:15
SPEDU chief executive officer, Mokubung Mokubung said at the Mmadinare agricultural show over in the village over the weekend that statistics have shown without farmers benefitting there has been low production. He said the district has 27 horticultural projects, 18 of which are under production while nine projects are out of production because the owners are seasonal producers.
He said the area developed for horticulture production is 38.5 hectares and added that for the 2016-2017 production season 20.46 hectares of various vegetables were planted with a total production of 449.18 tonnes produced. The 2017-2018 production is at 110.99 tonnes and 17.59 hectares of various vegetables have been planted to date.
Mokubung said this indicates very low production and encouraged farmers to utilise available programmes like Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) to increase production. He added that the outbreak of leaf miner in September to December last year has also rendered the majority of farmers out of production leading to losses of about 60 tonnes in susceptible crops mainly tomato, green pepper and water melon.
He added that the closure of BCL Mine last year that resulted in job loss of around 5,000 has resulted in a reduction in purchasing power, which has altered livelihoods and reversed gains.
“Despite the setbacks we need to enhance the contribution of other non-mining sectors to the economy of the region. We are therefore committed to supporting agro-business as one of the alternative engines and driver of future economic growth,” he said.
Mokubung said in support of the agro business in the region SPEDU has come up with Motloutse Farm Electrification Pilot Project that entails the provision of a 44-kilometre power line along Motloutse River Basin.
The project is at an advanced stage with 100% of the line complete on the Bobirwa side while works are at 70% with the Selebi-Phikwe environs.
The project, which is expected to be complete this week, is a pilot project that if successful could be recommended to other regions.
He added that some farmers have already applied for connection to the power grid.
“I encourage beneficiaries to connect and fully utilise their farms so that increased hectarage for horticulture produce could be realised in the near future.
He noted that close to P30 million has already been spent in the resuscitation of Talana Farms and significant hectares are now under cultivation for various crops much of which have been harvested.
The SPEDU CEO further said that NAPRO agro-processing plant based in Selebi-Phikwe represents a great opportunity to enhance farmer produce access to market, arrest post-harvest losses and to strengthen horticulture value chains.
“The plant that began its full operations in 2016 can only be ready to increase its numbers of contract farming covenants if it is reliably supplied with the right produce at the right offtake price by farmers,” he said.