13 Apr 2014

Farmers have been urged to adapt to the new farming systems for better yields.

Speaking at a field day at Mmamarobole in Kweneng District, director of agricultural research, Dr Pharoah Mosupi said application of pesticides, herbicides as well as row planting had proven to be better than other ploughing methods.

He encouraged farmers to use hybrids crops as they matured quickly and escaped Botswana’s dry conditions. He said farmers should shift to row planting and refrain from broadcast planting which tended to take up much of the farmers’ time when they had to weed.

He applauded farmers who took up the new farming methods and he encouraged farmers who were not using their fileds to lease them. Meanwhile, Ms Beauty Lekone, a farmer at Mmamarobole challenged fellow farmers to take up the new farming methods, which she said she had found better. For example yields and harvest increased drastically.

Ms. Lekone who said she ploughed in December 2013 and her crops were ready for consumption early February said hybrid crops took only two months to mature which was the reason she was now only the type.

For his part Mr Samuel Mapitse said Mmamarobole had been affected by drought for the past three years which hinders the efforts to produce food from the fields. “We have now adapted the new farming systems and the results are there for everyone to see,” he said. ENDS