By Kefiloe Kajane
The minister of trade and industry Thabiso Molapo and the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) today visited the Tikoe industrial estate to assess the state of the fresh produce market centre.
The centre is engineered to empower local farmers with an integrated vegetable production chain.
The market centre, which will act as a link between local fresh farm producers and the market, was launched in 2018.
Molapo said, looking at the progress, he is certain that the fresh produce market will start operating in May.
He said the project is way behind schedule, that is why they intend to push to make sure it opens soon.
He also said the market will assist farmers who produce vegetables with storage facilities where supermarkets can find them in large quantities.
“This is going to give many Basotho jobs. This place has refrigerators and storages space that will to help keep the vegetables fresh and of market standards,” he said.
At the same occasion, the acting chief executive officer of LNDC Theko Bereng said there are already market agents who are hired to work with farmers in different districts, with a view to guiding them.
