Berea, April 19 — As demand for organic foods escalates, Rural Self-Help Development Association (RSDA) has engaged into one day with different groups of farmers in Berea district on Thursday with the aim to capacitate them with skills on how to approach organic farming.
Addressing farmers, RSDA Programmes Director, Mrs. Makarabelo Makhoebe said for quite a long time, Basotho has been practicing organic farming, but they dropped it along the way as they were introduced to conventional agriculture by different funding agencies.
Mrs. Makhoebe further said organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people, adding that it relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects.
She pointed out that many farmers still perceive their products to be organic just because they are labeled organic, but in actual fact it goes way beyond that as all organic products must be mandatorily registered, certified, licensed and labelled.
