Merino rams for Mafeteng small-scale farmers

BOKANG MAKHOA

MASERU – The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Litšoane Litšoane, will hand over merino rams to 87 farmers in the Mafeteng district on March 19.

The move is a culmination of an exchange programme in which four low yielding, in terms of wool production, male and female animals are exchanged for a merino ram.

The exchange programme is implemented under the Wool and Mohair Promotion Project (WAMPP), and aims to improve farmers’ access to high yield breeds of rams.

According to the minister wool and mohair producers will ultimately increase their production through improved quality and quantity of fiber, in the project that was piloted in Mafeteng and will be subsequently rolled out to the rest of the country.

The exchange programme will also result in the reduction of animals on the country’s rangelands, while also boosting the red meat value chain where sheep from farmers will be sold to meat traders, caters and hospitality outlets.

“We are working to ensure that every Mosotho smallholder wool producer has access to merino rams. In this way, we can improve national production and productivity”, said a project director Retšelitsoe Khoalenyane, speaking ahead of the event that will take place at the Luma Shearing Shed in Mafeteng.