Ministry of Agriculture has urged the farmers to take advantage of the current rain for winter crops.
The spokesman in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lereko Masupha made a clarion call on Monday (18-3-19) that the farmers should act with speed by ploughing their fields for winter crops. He said this was the right time for farmers throughout the country to plant peas and wheat as they could endure dry season when planted on time when there is moisture in the soil.
Masupha said since the summer ploughing was met with challenges such as lack of rain, it was time that Basotho took advantage of the current rain, so that by November and December they could harvest wheat and peas as they could withstand any type of weather changes. He said it was wrong that many fields in the country remained fallow throughout the years yet people would complain about lack of food.
“It is important that farmers start planting winter crops from now because wheat and peas could withstand all types of weather conditions. The climate has changed now and we need to adapt to all the changes in the seasons. Basotho used to feed themselves without extending their hands to the donors. We were self-reliant and that spirit of self-reliance should be inculcated to upcoming farmers and those who are studying at school should know that soil is the future,” said Masupha.
Masupha added that Basotho should also evolve in how they produce food by adopting new methods of growing crops under the tunnels as they were temperature controlled.
“We support all the initiatives that Basotho get into in Agriculture so that we can have food security. As the department of Agriculture we want to turn Agric into a business, so that people can create sustainable living. We need to produce good crops so that we can find markets for farmers,” he said.
Masupha reiterated that Agriculture could grow the economy of the country if it was done well and could become the backbone of the country’s economy like it was before.
