Small scale farmers at Mohlaletse at Sekhukhune District in Limpopo are planning to venture into inland fish farming through a programme by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
A team of experts from the department is conducting feasibility studies to determine the viability of the fish farming project in the area. Farmers from Thakadu Tsa Naga Association say the project will also assist unemployed young people in the area. The association’s secretary Makgoneng Phala believes the project will work, despite the challenges of water scarcity.
“We believe and hope that as the deputy minister came here we are assured that what we have done here or created is going to benefit the youth and the people of South Africa, especially the unemployed people because our youth here are idling. There are no water challenges, it was just political, but the deputy minister indicated that he is going to engage with the chief there just to allow him to open the river to flow again,” says Phala.
The Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Makhotso Sotyu says plans to create an inland fish farming scheme at Sekhukhune are still under way.
”There is a specific project which they are looking for which is fish farming, therefore, our team, we are here with a team of experts that came and have a look at the place. They are on the verge of doing physical studies to make sure that what the community wants is possible for us as department then to do it. But by the look of things and also by the advice from the technical team it seems as if it will be possible for us to assist the community around here,” Sotyu says.
