Planting indegineous food

Communitymonitorsalerts/2021/07/28/ Mmabore Mogashoa/Limpopo/Sekhukhune/Makhuduthamaga municipality,

GaMogashoa village

A man from Ga-Mogashoa village has  made a good example that heritage can only disappear if we don’t stand up, an example made by an Engineering Professional, Rantshane Mogashoa shown

that one can multi task; and working in an urban area doesn’t mean one cannot uphold his root. Besides him being having full-time job in Gauteng, he ploughed sorghum in the village and he is looking for people who are passionate and have land to partner with him to produce more, especially youth.

In the light of Covid 19 it is evidence that poverty and unemployment is worsening and we can partner togethet to plough Sorghum which is in high demand for its multi purpose use like to make traditional beer, pap, dikgobe(cooked salted sorghum seed), ting(sour porridge), medication and many others things.

 This will not only create employment  or business opportunities but also assist in preserving the land of our forefathers, improve food security, teach youth about

preserving our indigenous,  and instill confidence in youth that agriculture is an important career.

Sorgum is the plant food that was mainly ploughed in the rural areas of Sekhukhune and soroundings and was dearly held at high regard by our forefathers as the results never went to bed hungry. They were sharing seed and also to those who don’t have fields to plough. Sorghum was grinded  by women using hands and stones(Tshilo le lwala). Sorghum is one indegineous food that was planted and food made out of it had no chemicals which made our forefathers to live longer and healthy.

This is how he responded to my questions:

1. Why did you plant sorghum? *I have grown up ploughing sorghum with my late

granny Pheladi in 90s, then it was a norm for every village to part take in this yearly program to feed their families with pure organic food. One main reason to plough the sorghum is the fact that it is becoming a scarce product; and diminishing in our presence and the love my granny had for them.*

2. Why do you want more people to partner with you  : *We have rich land in our area which can bring hope of employment and business opportunities to our community without them going to urban areas, more importantly will restore this heritage that is purely healthy and organic, meaning the method of planting is not influenced by chemicals hence I say *”future is in the past”*

3. Which areas would you like to plant?

*Around Tshehlwaneng areas namely Phateng, Mafanama, Segohlwane and Mafiting as the start but not limited to*

By Mmabore