OVER 4000 ACRES PLOUGHED UNDER SUMMER CROPPING

At least more than 4000 acres have been ploughed in the Qacha's nek district for summer cropping under the famine relief programme. The Qacha's nek District Agricultural Officer, Mr. Bereng Thulo, said out of these acres, 3,788 acres were ploughed last week, while the rest 486.4 were ploughed this week.

He said, the remaining acres to be ploughed is 25, 725.6, showing that another 13.9 acres have been planted in the district, while 2.2 acres have been diced. Mr. Thulo, further indicated that inputs received are fertilizers, maize, sorghum, beans, wheat, peas and potatoes, even though the distribution of inputs will start next week as inputs were received from the central warehouse in Maseru on Friday, last week.

The DAO, said some people owning oxen spans have just expressed interest in
getting into ploughing contracts, and will hopefully sign contracts next week.He said, observations of germination show that many fields have been planted, but the planting was done before recording started, adding that information of area planted on the basis of observable germination is being collected.

At least 15 tractors have been registered for planting under the programme. Some of the resource centers ploughed are Sehlabathebe, Rankakala,Tsoelike, Mosuoe, 'Melikane, Sekake, Thaba-Chitja, Ha Noosi and Matebeng.

22 October, 2002