MASERU - The 2019 Silo Agricultural Symposium has this year ended with the official launch of a home-grown meat production initiative dubbed Seboku Meat.
business
Sept. 26, 2019
STAFF REPORTER
2 min read
Farmers Expo sees launch of local meat produce
This seventh symposium held in Maseru was graced by the presence of His Majesty King Letsie III, agricultural experts from neighbouring South Africa and Lesotho as well as crop and animal farmers from across the breadth and width of the country; the farmers also had the opportunity to display their different products.
In his remarks during the launch, local businessman and Matekane Group of Companies (MGC) Chief Executive Officer, Sam Matekane, pledged support for the agricultural industry through his companies which he said were committed to backing all activities meant to transform the economy of the country.
Matekane observed the agricultural sector remained pivotal in addressing Lesotho’s economic woes and reshaping the state of poverty and level of hunger in the country.
“That being the reason this Expo is intended to promote, amongst others, local meat produce that feeds and survives on local plant life and grassland,” Mr Matekane said.
He appealed to farmers not to be deterred from producing the best animals for wool and mohair harvesting and meat production by the recent ‘unfortunate’ disagreements with government on the administration of the industry.
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“Let us rather unite and come up with measures that can beef up the industry, dissipating all these merging challenges,” he stressed.
Advocate Caroline McCane, an agricultural expert from South Africa, commended local farmers for the ingenuity to propel locally reared animals into the market for consumption, indicating Seboku Meat was a means to grow the economy.
“We are all taking note of the increasing number of international tourists coming into Lesotho, and it is worth believing that those tourists will also desire to eat Basotho’s locally produced food,” Adv McCane said.
She advised that with strong advocacy and marketing, the international market could be opened up to this proudly Lesotho produced meat, and as a result increase cash injection into the local economy.
At the same event organiser and Silo magazine editor, Tjonane Matla, presented an award and certificate of excellence to an elderly farmer, Mokone Phiri, as a veteran in the wool and mohair industry.
Mr Matla thanked all participants in the four-day event themed ‘Embracing the Indigenous’, and supported by local banks and other stakeholders in agriculture.
LeNA.
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