JuniorCare Awareness Day at Leakhala Primary School

The event started with a briefing session on amendment to the event’s main programme because some of guests whom we invited made apologies telephonically before the event could start. During the briefing session, all the guests were requested to introduce themselves. The principal of Leakhala Primary School, Mrs Mokete, introduced all the guests at the main event. The event was attended by 220 participants from different institutions and was largely dominated by learners from different primary schools. In attendance were officials from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Limpopo Department of Agriculture, the farmers from Makhado and learners from Maphula Primary School, Sefao Primary School, Leakhala Primary School and Mandela Blow Agricultural High School surrounding the Maduleng and Sehlakong villages and representatives from Old Mutual. The purpose of event was to render awareness about the importance of the LandCare programme, particularly of JuniorCare, to young people.

Mr Mmolokwane from the Royal Council of the Modjadji Traditional Authority welcomed all the participants. He said that it is important to conserve our natural resources for our young generation. He indicated that he participated in one of the international conferences where its objective was to create awareness on the sustainable use of nature. He lastly emphasised that we should link our programmes in order to achieve more and it is important to provide this knowledge to the young people.

Mrs TG Nekhavhambe said that the purpose of this event was to render awareness on the importance of the LandCare programme, particularly JuniorCare, to the young generation to grow up with that knowledge of conserving natural resources and for young people to acquire different skills such as nursery skills, permaculture skills, etc. She mentioned the theme of the event: Involvement of youth in Climate Smart Agriculture for sustainable food production and effective natural resource management.

Mr HM Netshivhodza presented the importance of Conservation Agriculture. He said that CA improves food security and has three major principles, namely, minimum soil disturbance, permanent cover and crop integration. He said that the farmers are faced with challenges such as inputs costs; CA is a low cost saving farming practice with the benefit of increasing the yield of the farmers, weed suppression, inhibits evaporation, control soil erosion, bacteria and increases biomass and infiltration. The learners from Maphula Primary School entertained the participants during the Junior Care Awareness Day at Leakhala Primary School.

Maphula Primary School Sefao Primary School Mandela Blow Agricultural High School Leakhala Primary School, The learners from Maphula Primary School, Sefao primary school Primary School, Leakhala Primary School and Mandela Blow Agricultural High School presented posters, debates, speeches, poems and drama performances. Mr Mabilo from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that we should invest in natural resources to improve our livelihoods for upcoming generations because soil is one of the natural resources that can be used to produce vegetables to support our households.