Moyahabo Mabeba

Moyahabo Mabeba

The Limpopo department of agriculture celebrated World Food Day in style at Mokomene Stadium in the Botlokwa area north of Polokwane on Friday.

Scores of villagers went back home with broad smiles after they were given food parcels, seed and fertiliser in the hope that these will contribute to their small farming projects.

The event attracted scores of people who converged on the land of Chief Ramokgopa.

Botlokwa remains one of the severest poverty-stricken villages in Limpopo. The area experiences regular droughts, even during the summer season. The area has not received any rain this year.

Very few people in the area are employed. The scarcity of food and escalating prices are some of the area's major concerns.

Under this year's theme "World Food Security and The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy", the aim was to heighten public awareness of the world's food problems.

The day was also meant to forge solidarity with others in the struggle against hunger, poverty and malnutrition.

In a quest to ensure that there is food security for all against escalating food prices, the department is working with other provincial departments, municipalities and the non-governmental sector on how best to help impoverished families to access food.

Delivering a keynote address on behalf of the MEC for agriculture Dikeledi Magadzi, who is in China, MEC for health and social development Seaparo Sekoati urged the communities to start growing their own vegetable gardens as a way of ensuring food security.

"You are lucky here in Botlokwa because you still have enough land to pursue subsistence farming so that you will be able to feed your families without being stressed by the escalating food prices," he said.