The youth self-employment horticulture project at Dordabis situated some 93km east of Windhoek has grown just months after it was officially launched by Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Agnes Tjongarero. It took off in September and is aimed at ensuring food security in the country and increasing productivity, skills enhancement and to generate income for youth in peri-urban and rural areas, by testing cost-effective and scalable market-based solutions to strengthen micro-entrepreneurship opportunities. Speaking to NAMPA in an interview on Wednesday, one of the beneficiaries Veronika !Gomxos said the project has progressed well, adding that more people have also joined the project since its launch. She said when the project initially started, they were only six beneficiaries but now the number has doubled to 12 people working on the project. “The project has really grown, at the time it was launched the vegetables were still tiny, so we transplanted them to the second greenhouse. At the moment we grow tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, onion, lettuce, herbs, parsley and sweetcorn,” she explained. !Gomxos added that with the harvest from the project, they are able to assist inhabitants who are on tuberculosis and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment so that they have a meal before taking their medication. “We also support community members who are bedridden and the rest of the produce we sell, however, we do not have a retailer we supply to as yet, so we sell mostly to community members and at the Government Office Park in Windhoek,” she added. !Gomxos thanked the Government for aiding the community in the establishment of the project, saying the project has also become a source of income for her and the other beneficiaries, enabling them to better their lives and those of their families. “Now there are two gardens but we need more projects so that the youth of Dordabis can stand up and work to better their lives, we are many in this location, so maybe a poultry project and a brickmaking project, then unemployment here can decrease,” said !Gomxos. -NAMPA