Golden Valley Agricultural research Trust

Ministry of livestock and fisheries batoka ranch

GOVT PROMISES TO PAY WORKERS AT GART WHO HAVE NOT BEEN PAID FOR ALMOST ONE YEAR

Southern Province Fisheries and Livestock Coordinator says government has with immediate effect elevated the structure at Golden Valley Agriculture Research Trust (GART) Batoka state ranch in an effort to address financial challenges at the institution.

Charles Lwaanga (pictured below) has revealed to Byta FM News in an exclusive interview that Batoka GART will now be run by a Senior Livestock Officer to help the institution operate efficiently.

Lwaanga says the management structure at GART does not have sufficient
capacity to exploit the potential that the institution has to generate income to fund itself and take care of its employees.

He says GART has enough land for crops, dams for fish and paddocks for cattle
production which have been lying idle because of a poor management structure at the institution.

Lwaanga says once the management structure is elevated, government will bring in funders that will invest in fish production at GART.

The Fisheries and Livestock Coordinator says GART is an autonomous institution that should not rely on government funding for its operations but raise its own resources.

Meanwhile, Lwaanga has assured workers at GART Batoka that they shall receive all their salaries in arrears, but says it is inevitable that a few workers may lose employment in the restructuring process.

Workers at GART have gone without pay for over Nine months.

This place is between batoka and Choma