KATIMA MULILO - Zambezi Regional Governor Lawrence Sampofu has called on young people from the region and the country at large to enrol for agriculture courses, so that they can be educated on the best agricultural practices required to maintain food security in the country.

Sampofu made these remarks at the inauguration of the Zambezi Vocational Training Centre (ZVTC) Agriculture training wing yesterday  at Katima Mulilo.

In remarks read by his special advisor Ignatius Nkunga, Sampofu pointed out the agriculture sector remains an important sector in the country, and there is a need to educate the nation, particularly young people on best agriculture production practices.

“Disappointingly, youth enrolment in agricultural courses remains low and the negative societal perception that agriculture is for the uneducated remains a serious threat. It is therefore high time that we change this negative and counter-productive mind set. It is high time we reconsider our emphasis and assign more support to the implementation of agriculture development programmes,” said Sampofu.

He stressed the Zambezi Region in particular “with its abundance of water and fertile land, has the potential to become a bread basket from which to feed not only its inhabitants, but indeed our brothers and sisters in the rest of the country.”
He further called on the Ministry of Higher Education, and the Namibia Training Authority to maintain the momentum and commitment towards successfully transforming the provision of Vocational Training Education in Namibia. 

“We continue to believe that the Namibia Training Authority is the right vehicle in this regard in supporting the Ministry in its objective of productive employment and economic opportunity,” he said.

The facility which consists of an administration office, a block of two classrooms, a computer laboratory, ablution facilities, a pesticide room, a guard room, a water tower and a greenhouse  house was constructed with the help of 19 trainees from ZVTC at a cost of N$5.7 million.