Enga prisoners learn to farm

By ELIAS LARI
PRISONERS at the Mukurumanda jail in Enga are turning into temporary farming while serving their term in Jail.
The prisoners are trained to cultivate land and plant food crops and work hard to earn a living and become disciplined people when they are released from jail.
Corporal Samson Kissa from the Mukurumanda Correctional Services Institution said this on Saturday that what they are doing is to train the inmates to become hardworking people.
He said so far the inmates had been planting corn, sweet potatoes and vegetables which were sold at the market.
He said some of the garden food was cooked at the mess for their meals.
Kissa, who is the officer in charge for agriculture at the prison and has a certificate in agriculture, said that educating prisoners to work the land to become hardworking people was very important in rehabilitating them.
He said agriculture was a sleeping giant which can generate millions of kina in terms of revenue for the country.
Kissa said the jail does not buy garden food from the markets but gets them straight from the gardens made by prisoners.
He said the agriculture training is good for the inmates as most of them did not know how to work their land toearn a living.
Kissa said we must teach people to become somebody by sharing experiences and knowledge.
He said many of the prisoners showed their interest to be farmers once they were released from jail.
He said some of the money they earned by selling their food crops at the market was used to buy tools like bush knives, forks, spades to use in making gardens.
Kissa said the prisoners seemed to get more experience in farming because they were trained to plant a variety of food crops.
He said this was one of the best training they could receive from the jail which they will put into practice in their future to help themselves and their families when they leave the prison.