Young Farmers Fund is on track - CEDA
LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent
| Friday December 5, 2008 00:00
Speaking in an interview with Business Week, the Coordinator of the CEDA Young Farmers Fund, Thabo Thamane, said they are satisfied with the progress of the scheme that is aimed at empowering young farmers.
Thamane revealed that so far they have received 420 applications valued at P161 million but have disbursed (only) P63 million for 163 projects country wide. The official said since the programme began, they have not had any serious challenges other than the outbreak of veldt fires and the foot-and-mouth disease.
Thamane said although the projects affected by veldt fires had insurance cover, the approved projects had provided 70 percent of projected employment. He said they have projected for 510 people to be employed and so far the projects have created about 357 jobs, excluding casual labourers.
Thamane said they are going to work with other organisations that are funding young people to establish businesses. Such projects include the Department of Youth and Culture's Out of School Youth Project and Kgalagadi Breweries' Kickstart Project.
Challenges facing young people in business have also been identified. These include the fact that young people are inexperienced. He said some of the clients have already started repaying their loans. There have only been a few cases where commitment was lacking such as when the owner does not spend much time on the project, but no projects have been abandoned.
While the scheme is popular with young people in the rural areas, Gaborone is still lagging behind. The CEDA official attributed this to the fact that there is scarcity of land in the capital, especially for agriculture.
However, young people in other urban areas like Francistown and Selibe-Phikwe have shown a keen interest in the scheme.