Africa-Press – Lesotho. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held a one day validation workshop intended to facilitate an enabling environment for Contract Farming Project in Lesotho.
The Contract Farming Bill was also discussed and validated at the workshop. The Contract Farming Project was launched in June 2021 with the aim to develop policy and legislation for
facilitating an enabling environment for contract farming in Lesotho. It integrates local producers into the domestic agriculture food value chain in sustainable manner and to encourage obligation and commitment amongst
producers’ market outlets. FAO National and Contract Farming Project Coordinator Nothembile Nobala indicated that the project was carried out through online training on Agribusiness and Legal Aspects.
“It was basically intended to provide training on operational and legal aspects of Contract
Farming to encourage farmers to play roles in promoting and facilitating the concept of group farming. It targeted relevant stakeholders in the public and
private sectors,” she enlightened. She said it targeted participants at district level, District Animal Production Officers (DAPOS), Crop production Officers (CPOs), District Marketing Assistants and District
Hort/cultural Officers (DHOs). She added that the rapid assessment was done in all identified chains of high potential and the focus was to evaluate the
situation, needs, challenges, opportunities and feasibility of Contract Farming for dry beans, protein tomato, broiler meat and pork. “The way forward with this
is to endorse the draft contract farming bill, the findings and recommendations from the value chain analysis, the assessment of contract farming opportunities
and feasibility for value chains,” Nobala noted. According to the National Legal Consultant Dr Letzadzo Kometsi, the Contract Farming Act draft recognizes rights obligations for both parties and provides specific support to women empowerment among others.
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