100-hectare farmland; a blessing to Gweta

KEABETSWE NEWEL
Correspondent | Friday February 4, 2011 00:00

The event, held on Wednesday this week involved the official declaration of a 100 hectare farm, which was obtained by cooperation between Gweta community and The Botswana Red Cross Society (BRCS), to involve the community in a united farming project.

Speaking at the event, Programme Director of the Botswana Red Cross Society (BRCS), Titus Makosha, said that in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, they launched the project as a long-term and a cross boarder initiative to support at least 22 million of chronically vulnerable people living along the Zambezi River Basin.

The project covered countries such as Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe whose people live along the river.

Makosha said that since the river brings with it occasional disasters, they saw it fit to launch a project that could empower them to know the natural threats they were exposed to.

He urged them to manage such situations as well as to utilise opportunities brought to them by the river to enrich their lives.

Makosha said that the river flood areas such as Gweta, Kasane, Nata, Kazungula, Pandamatenga and the some within those areas, bring diseases like Cholera and Malaria.

'In this project we trained people academically to handle health situations.  We also taught them First Aid skills in cases of emergency sickness to be able to manage diseases reasonably in their area,' he said.

But the major initiative was to bond with the community in assisting them to obtain a 100-hectare farm, which would use the wetlands to its advantage and produce food for the community to ease their way of living.

He also exhibited a brand new tractor that was ready to begin planting immediately.

Standing in for the Minister of Agriculture, Rebecca Kgosi, the Director of Extension Services in the Agricultural department, graced the launch.  She termed the project 'spectacular'.

She said that with the project at hand there would be a reduction in natural disasters considering that health education was availed for residents to handle diseases influenced by the Zambezi.

She also mentioned that the farm idea  would put to use water that is abundant in the land for food production to reduce rates of poverty in the village.

Kgosi Lesupang Matime, of Gweta was also head over heels about the project.  He was elated that finally, his community has also shown a sense of unity by cooperating not only amongst themselves but also with the BRCS in availing land that the community will cultivate.

'It is time we show responsibility and decrease our dependence on other people. This 100 hectare farm could feed the whole community and even avail other means of keeping them from bad things by developing the community and their area,'she said.