Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Women Farmer Foundation has trained a total number of 105 youth famers on protective farming since the year 2021.
This was confirmed by Woman Farmer Foundation (WFF) Communications Officer Mpumalanga Zwane (WFF), who said the training was open to young people across Eswatini with an interest in becoming climate resilient agri-preneurs.
“The programme gives them the tools to kickstart their climate adaptive businesses and is great for young people with varying business and agricultural skills and experience. One may ask themselves what is protective farming and why one would want to access training on it, but there are many answers.
“Here we a few from the Woman Farmer Foundation, whose program focuses on tunnel and shade net farming,’’ she stated.
According to Zwane, the climate crisis was not slowing down, and farmers urgently needed the skills and innovation to lower the many risks associated with climate change.
She went on to say tunnel and shade net farming were great farming methods to consider if you were looking to increase your crop yield, reduce water consumption, and protect plants from pests and diseases.
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“These are forms of protective farming that use structures to create a controlled environment for your crops. They both can be done in an open field or in a greenhouse and are a great way to protect your crops,’’ she said.
Zwane said tunnel and shade net farming had many advantages for agribusiness management, such as an increased crop yield, increased number of harvests, and also an improved quality and quantity of the crops.
She made an example that tunnel farming could increase the yield of tomatoes from 30 to 50 per cent, while shade net farming could increase the yield of leafy vegetables from 20 to 40 per cent.
Zwane highlighted that tunnel and shade net farming could reduce the water loss due to evaporation and transpiration and allow for more efficient irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation. She then said applications for the training programme were now open. She said young people were welcome to apply to the programme before January 22 and that aspiring applicants could visit the foundation’s social media pages or send a text to 7602 7207 for more information.
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