MASERU- Nthabiseng Hlalele , a young and vibrant lady, living in the small village of Masite on the outskirts of Maseru says women should bring food security to the fore because they are the ones taking care of their families.
Hlalele said she ventured into farming in 2010 by helping her mother in her farming projects.
She said she is following her mother’s footsteps in interacting with nature in order to put bread on the table, saying her mother had influenced her discernibly on food security initiatives.
“My mother was nominated as the Woman of the Year in Agriculture- 2014,” explained Hlalele.
She reiterated that she continued working and assisting her mother with administration and mobilization of the farming projects, post harvest management and sales.
Inspired by her mother’s endeavors in farming, Hlalele said she pursued planting vegetables in her mother’s small back yard where she started growing high quality vegetables because she was unemployed and planted just for subsistence purposes.
Meanwhile, Hlalele revealed that as she enjoyed the revenues accrued from the soil, she extended her projects and grew from subsistence farming to commercial farming.
She said she has found it necessary to extend her farming tentacles where she invested her time in the agriculture sector.
This young farmer said she honed her skills in the sector by attending training workshops, exhibitions and reading books.
“I learned how to do agribusiness not only because I was unemployed or for family business but because l pursued what l discovered what I loved and ran with the vision,” she explained.
“I worked hard and became focused on my projects,” said Hlalele.
She is now a young commercial farmer selling to leading retail stores and hotels in the capital Maseru.
Hlalele said she currently owns a greenhouse and her own piece of land, adding that she is a certified seed bean producer who has an outlet that sells agricultural inputs and feeds, named Beautiful Gardens.
She told this paper that her company employs both young and elderly people seasonally and that she allows schools to visit her land to have a feel for farming practices.
This young farmer explained that she also allows pupils from nearby schools to visit her garden so that they could see how food is produced from the land and to instill the spirit of agriculture to these pupils at an incipient stage.
Hlalele is leading by example the implementation of the Malabo Declaration 2014 that strongly advocates that women and youth should be engaged in food production initiatives in their respective countries.
She is one of the young female farmers who are enthusiastic to see Malabo Declaration being put into use and the Comprehensive Advanced Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) practically possible in Lesotho.
Hlalele said she strongly believes that women have potential to change economies of their countries provided they are given space.
She has represented Lesotho many a times at international agricultural forums that are aimed at empowering young farmers.