Praise for local agro-initiative

Rotary Club of Pietersburg 100 has heaped praise on local businessman and Owner of Nsete Primary Cooperative, Matthews Ledwaba for the sterling work his is doing in improving the livelihood of community members.
Ledwaba established the cooperative in 2015 in the Ga Mashashane area and he currently employs 15 community members in the cultivating of spinach, cabbage, carrots, butternut, beetroot, green pepper and tomatoes on his 6 ha of land. He sells the produce to his community, informal and formal markets and donates some to the home care centres, schools and underprivileged homes in the area.
Speaking during the Rotary Club of Pietersburg 100’s visit to the cooperative last Thursday, Peter Mockford, President of Rotary Club of Pietersburg 100 said they were impressed with what they have seen. “This is a well planned project. This is our first visit and we wanted to see what he has achieved. We are impressed. The cabbage is looking good, the tomatoes are coming on nicely and the spinach is really looking good. We would like to have similar projects in different areas, we want to see the community replicating what he has done. We are fascinated by how he got started and where he is going,” Mockford said.
“There is huge need of farming in communities because there is water and electricity. We need to teach people how they can feed themselves, we need to see gardens at schools so that when learners leave school they have a good idea of what can be achieved in farming.”
Ledwaba, owner of Teroy Sound and Security, said the sole aim of his project was to create employment and alleviate poverty. “We started in May in 2015 after we realised the high rate of unemployment in the area. We are not getting any support from Government. We use a generator for the irrigation system and it costs a lot of money. We are struggling to keep up with the costs but we are soldiering on,” Ledwaba said.
Despite lack of support from Government, Ledwaba said they were planning to increase the 6 ha to 10 ha so that they can employ more people.
“We have been knocking on doors of various government departments, the Department of Agriculture in particular, to assist us with resources but our efforts were in vain. We wanted them to assist us with electricity, seedlings, fertilisers and farming related services but they are not coming on board. We will continue using our own resources to better the lives of our community members,” Ledwaba said.
He also appealed to the private business and vegetable markets, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, lodges and school feeding schemes to support the cooperative and use their services. “We want them to procure our service, because if they are buying produce from us we will be able to employ more people and fight the scourge of poverty.
For orders and more information they can contact me on 083 290 2029 and 072 175 0009,” stressed Ledwaba.

Story & photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com