Only 8 farmers planted in Kubung

Chairman for the Mogoditshane/Thamaga Sub Council, Duncan Ramasiagopana has expressed concern over the low number of farmers in his region who planted their fields during the ploughing season.

Ramasiagopana told a full council meeting in Mogoditshane this Monday that late rains and the high temperatures experienced seemed to have discouraged farmers to plough their fields. He stated that ploughing started in November 2015 and to date, 22 farmers have planted a total of 824.15 hectares.

“Despite completing cluster fencing at Kubung which has a total area of 416 ha only 33.32 ha were planted by eight farmers. This indicates that only few Batswana participated in producing own food this season, and this should start worrying us.

The sad part is that most of the farmers who made an effort to plant also lost their crops due to unfavourable weather conditions,” Ramasiagopana told the council.

He said it is time Batswana take heed of calls to grow crops that are drought tolerant like sorghum. He called on Batswana to desist from focusing most on maize, which is highly sensitive.

The council chairman suggested that government should also consider reducing quantities of other seeds offered by Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) except for sorghum to encourage farmers to grow it.