Africa-Press – Botswana. Residents of Mabalane and surrounding villages have been encouraged to venture into fish farming and utilise dams in the area to upgrade their lives.
Assistant Minister of Agriculturea and MP for Mmadinare, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi said this during President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s kgotla meeting in Mabalane on Thursday.
He said his constituency was making positive strides in fish farming and would be willing to assist them.
He said fish farming could even be done at home as a worthwhile enterprise.
The assistant minister said P19 million had been set aside for five demonstration sites selected across the country, to train Batswana on fish farming.
Oliphant’s Drift in the Kgatleng District is among the chosen sites, together with Maun, Shakawe and Parakarungu.
Mr Molebatsi said fish farming was a way of diversifying the agricultural sector and help Batswana live better lives.
Village Development Committee chairperson, Ms Salome Moatle made a request, that government assist to desilt their dam so that they could put it to good use, to which Assistant Minister of Agriculture promised that their plea would be attended to soon.
Ms Moatle appealed for a unified secondary school to serve learners in the river villages catchment area and that Mmathubudukwane service centre should be resourced with fire brigade since the area was prone to veld fires.
Ms Moatle also called for reticulation of storm water drainages.
She said VDC was thankful for previous CCP funds that enabled them to finish some projects that included paving of some internal roads and renovation of community hall.
Minister of Entrepreneurship, Mr Karabo Gare encouraged residents to apply for CEDA funding and start businesses.
He said the uptake of the programme in the Kgatleng District was low, standing at P9.8 million since inception, and encouraged the community to utilise the facility and participate in moving the economy forward.
A CEDA online application facility was recently launched in Motokwe, which Minister Gare said was at the disposal of all Batswana, to prevent travelling to CEDA offices.
He said 1 000 customers were already using the facility and 409 applications had been received to date through the same.
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