The Ondangwa Town Council last week handed over gardening tools to eight backyard gardeners. Ondangwa constituency councillor Leonard Negonga said he decided to go to the government warehouse to obtain the tools these gardeners need.

"I do not know the value of the tools I handed over because I took them from our government store. As a good Samaritan, it was a good gesture of kindness," he noted.

Negonga said the aim of the donation is to encourage the gardeners to produce more fruits and vegetables, and to grow more plants. "We went house to house to see what they are doing, and the progress of their gardens. We want to motivate them because they want to create their income by selling their plants, fruit and vegetables," said Negonga.

The gardeners requested the council's office to provide them with land so they can expand their gardens and produce more. Negonga said, unfortunately, the available land is reserved to cater for upcoming youth projects.

"We will have to enquire with the youth if they can give a small portion of land to the gardeners to expand since the 32 hectares of land belongs to them (youth) for their agriculture projects," he noted.