A revolutionary agrarian model

MASERU – THROUGH teamwork and dedication, a group of nine farmers are changing the landscape of Mahobong in Leribe by engaging in a commercial fruit production venture.

Jointly working their fields, the farmers have established a project named Likhothola, which is credited with impacting the lives of people in the area.

Before the launch of the project, unemployment and poverty were rife in the area. That situation forced some people, especially youths, to leave in search of job opportunities elsewhere.

The chairman of the Likhothola Farm Project, Mosito Khethisa, says the farmers received technical training from South Africa, with the help of the Private Sector Competitiveness Project which was under the World Bank.

Now employees from local villages have attained skills to run the project on their own. So far the farm has created employment opportunities for 18 people on a permanent basis.

The project absorbs up to 35 people from the local community during the harvesting season, which runs from November to April. About 15 700 deciduous fruit trees have been planted on about 11 hectares of land.

Khethisa says 85 percent of the apples harvested from the project are grade A and are absorbed by the local market.

“Our produce is found on shop shelves and is consumed locally,” Khethisa says, adding that they have also secured a market in South Africa.

He appealed to the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, to train more people in horticulture.

He says they are aiming to expand the project so that more jobs are created to fight poverty.

Khethisa urged the National Manpower Secretariat (NMDS) to stop sponsoring courses that are not market-oriented and instead focus on courses such as horticulture which have the potential to transform Lesotho’s economy.

“There is a lot of expertise that is needed on the farm to take care of the trees. This ranges from pruning trees to harvesting fruits such as apples, apricots, peaches and plums,” Khethisa says.

Establishing the project was a mammoth task he says, adding that some partners were “troublesome”.

“But we were patient and worked with them,” he says.

Khethisa says people visit the farm in large numbers to buy fruits.

“There is a value chain because some buyers also hire cars from other people to get to the farm,” he says.

Chaba Mokuku, the coordinator of the Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI), which is financed by the World Bank, says the government intends to support the establishment of a Horticulture Incubation Facility.

He says the objective is to scale up and replicate the existing deciduous fruit project across the country.

“We want 15 fruit farms in the country that should belong to Basotho within five years from now,” he says.

To turn their dream into reality, they thought of having an incubation training hub in Mahobong to provide guidance to people who want to venture into horticulture.

Mokuku says the project is going to work in partnership with the National University of Lesotho (NUL) and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

He says Lesotho has better deciduous fruits compared to South Africa because of the good climatic conditions in the Mountain Kingdom.

Mokuku says the initiative is geared towards fighting joblessness by creating employment opportunities.

Masiu Ramoea says he has been working on the farm where he has already amassed a wealth of experience for the past ten years.

He says he arrived at the farm as a boy and now he is a married man who is able to look after his family.

“The project has helped me fight poverty. I am able to buy books and pay school fees for my children,” Ramoea says.

The Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Thabo Moleko, says the project aims to increase access to business support services and financial products targeted at MSMEs and entrepreneurs, especially women and youths.

Moleko says the project is building on the achievement of two previous Private Sector Competitiveness Projects that were implemented by his ministry.

While the focus of the previous projects was on attracting foreign direct investment, Moleko says CAFI is focused on building strong local private enterprises and linking them to international markets.

He says one of the components of the project is expanding Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) participation in high potential value chains through the establishment of horticulture incubation hubs.

He says the horticulture incubation hub is intended to provide support for scaling up commercial horticulture farming in the country and also to build on the experience of the current commercial farms and address gaps in the value chain in access to sustainable land, infrastructure, extension services, skills, finance and markets while promoting climate agricultural practices.

Moleko says the hub is going to select and train 100 farmers under a pre-incubation programme, of which about 15 farmers are expected to qualify for the full incubation programme.

“This demonstrates the unwavering commitment of the government in transforming the economy through the agricultural sector,” he says.

He says the agricultural sector is critical in creating jobs and alleviating poverty in Lesotho adding that the government had secured parallel financing from India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA) to support the development of the sector.

Moleko says through the initiative, CAFI aims to attract youths to the agricultural sector by transforming the sector into a business and offering them new avenues and opportunities to engage along the agriculture value chain that will not only create wealth but will also maximise employment.

“This can only be achieved through strong public-private-partnerships and collaboration among various agriculture related projects. I want to assure you of the support of my ministry for this noble initiative as we endeavour towards the transformation of Lesotho’s economy through the agricultural sector,” he says.

He says expertise, knowledge and experience are invaluable for the advancement of this initiative.

Majara Molupe