President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and First Lady Neo have donated one meat master sheep and two ewes to Botswana Prison Service. The donation was not the first of its kind as President Masisi had previously donated six boer goats and six dorper sheep to Molepolole Prison Farm.
Presenting the donation during his visit to the refurbished prison officers mess, President Masisi said he was convinced that the prison service could produce food of sufficient quantity and quality to feed the inmates and the nation.
Agriculture as I usually proclaim, is the main source of income for most Batswana, he said. I therefore implore the prison service to continue their good work and see to it that prisoners are trained in the skills needed.
Such skills would equip inmates to engage in modern agriculture and contribute to the national food basket, as made possible by the offender rehabilitation and reintegration programme.
President Masisi highlighted governments commitment to ensuring food security and giving young people entrepreneurial and job creation skills for greater opportunities and possibilities.
He urged the prison service to continue exploring diverse agricultural pathways including dairy, small stock production, horticulture and aquaculture in every facility around the country.
On the refurbished mess, President Masisi said the facility would enable opportunities for social and professional integration as well as mentoring for junior officers. I am optimistic that the mess environment would contribute to the wellbeing and morale of officers as well as their level of productivity at work, hence I implore the commissioner to ensure that the officers messes are distributed evenly across stations to cultivate the spirit of togetherness, he said.
The Commissioner of Prisons, Ms Dinah Marathe commended President Masisi for his commitment in promoting the agricultural sector and in supporting the prison services in its operations. She said the donation came at a time when the prison service was in the drive to intensify efforts to transform prison agriculture towards achieving top class prisoner rehabilitation through vocational training and skills transfer.
The prison service has developed a food security strategy which provides strategic direction in implementing agriculture programmes towards prisoners' rehabilitation, food production and value chain development, she said.
She said small stock production was one of the key programmes geared towards the provision of practical skills to prisoners to appreciate agriculture as an enterprise to venture into post imprisonment. ENDS
Source : BOPA
Author : Thato Mosinyi