President Zuma to launch food security programme

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will officially launch government’s food security programme, Fetsa Tlala, in Kuruman in the Northern Cape next week.

The programme is managed by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Government’s Integrated Food Security Production Intervention Programme was introduced last year to afford smallholder farmers, communities and households the opportunity to increase production of basic food. This intervention will be managed over a period of 10 years from 2012 to 2022.

The programme is intended to promote self-sufficiency and food security through getting communities to plant their own food.

Its objectives are to:

• Increase food production capacity of both subsistence and small holder producers.

• Increase availability and access to locally produced food products.
• Create opportunities for SMME development at local level.
• Create job opportunities within the agricultural sector.

The project will be launched on 24 October.  - SAnews.gov.za