8-Mile youths take up veggie, poultry farming

A GROUP of settlement youths in the National Capital District will soon harvest and sell their garden produce and livestock.
More than 80 youths from the 8-Mile settlement had been engaged under World Vision’s “children are priority” project where they had prepared plots and planted vegetables to sell and earn money.
Site coordinator Lucas Keta said some had even ventured into livestock farming, raising poultry to sell in the city markets.
Keta told a group of visitors yesterday that many of these youths had once upon a time been frequenting the city streets doing nothing.
“They have now found something useful to do; spending their time growing food and poultry to eat and sell for an income,” he said.
With training and help from World Vision and the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), the youths were out working their vegetable plots seven days a week.
They would soon harvest and sell their produce.
NARI had helped the youths identified water reserves for water holes to be dug around the plots and used as irrigation sources.
Keta said while the youths were using simple gardening tools to farm, they would welcome any help with additional gardening tools and seedlings.