Africa-Press – Eswatini. The ministry of agriculture has urged farmers to venture into goat meat production as it remains a very profitable enterprise.
The ministry also indicated that this would feed the growing population and improve the country’s economy. Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza advocated for goat production yesterday when launching a youth goats project in Sithobela Inkhundla.
The project is worth over E800 000 and it saw 450 goats being handed to 150 beneficiaries from Sithobela and Somntongo. Eswatini Sugar Association donated E450 000.
The minister said the project had come at the right time, fitting into the ministry’s strategy and addressing a huge challenge of unemployment for the youth.
“Currently, in Eswatini, most of the food grown is produced by aging smallholder farmers, who are, unfortunately, less likely to adapt to new technologies needed to sustainably increase agricultural productivity,” the minister said. He mentioned that the project, consequently, played a significant role in introducing young people to agriculture.
Mabuza also expressed gratitude to the Eswatini Sugar Association, World Vision Eswatini, Inkhudla and the chiefdoms for the tireless efforts in improving the livelihood of the rural poor in the different parts of the country.
“Further to the commendable efforts to address the youth, the project is promoting an enterprise, which the lowveld has a comparative advantage on. While the government has extended irrigation programmes across the Lubombo region, goat production remains a very profitable enterprise for the areas not yet reached,” the minister assured the aspiring goat farmers.
Strived
He added that goat enterprises had strived well in the Lowveld, against the harsh weather conditions exhibited by climate change.
The project, according to the minister promises a breakthrough for unemployed youth in the area, to a better livelihood. “As the ministry, we commit to availing technical expertise needed to support this and other similar initiatives, particularly those empowering young people.
We are particularly keen, as the government, to see the involvement of children for skills transfer, as well as the empowerment of girls, something that reduces their vulnerability to sexual exploitation,” the minister said.
Mabuza also expressed appreciation of the new partnership that World Vision had made with Eswatini Sugar Association, seeking to assist mostly young people. He said the Sugar Association, through its different bodies, had remained, for a long time, one of the main contributors to the Eswatini economy.
“The industry has changed the trajectory of the Lowveld of Eswatini, through providing an improved livelihoods and employment in the sugar industry,” the minister said.
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