25 May 2014

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Micus Chimbombi, has assured members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that his ministry was committed to the agro-Zambezi project.

Answering a question from a PAC member, MP for Kgatleng East Mr Isaac Mabiletsa, Dr Chimbombi said the ministry was committed to this project which was envisaged to produce a massive amount of cereal and other crops for the country.

Dr Chimbombi explained that this project was undertaken in conjunction with Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources.

He however expounded that his ministry has been allocated P100 million to kick-start the project while the partner ministry had to divert the money to the existing mega projects.

He said his ministry will have to race against time to beat the 2015 deadline of starting the process of drawing water from the Chobe River. He explained that if the ministry could fail to meet the dealing, Botswana would be forced to re-negotiate the amount of water with other riparian states.

He also explained that the project, which was going to take place in Pandamatenga, was initially about 65km away from the current Pandamatenga Farms but it had since been shifted to the farming area so that they could be in one block and thus share the infrastructure.

At the moment Pandamatenga Farms are undergoing developmental transformation as roads and drainage systems were under construction to enhance farm accessibility.

Dr Chimbombi said he was of the Milk-Africa Project whose promoters included the Lobatse Town Council to improve milk production in Botswana.

However, he added, the project was put on hold after it failed the environmental impact assessment. The Ministry of Agriculture supported the initiative, especially that it had the backing of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The Chairperson of the PAC, Mr Nehemiah Modubule, had asked the permanent secretary to share what he knew of this project and whether he was ready to assist Lobatse dairy farmers.

Regarding the enhanced intervention against foot and mouth disease, Dr Chimbombi said his ministry took a deliberate action to make a protection zone which starts from Bobirwa and extend to area such as North-East, Kasane and Gweta where cattle within this area would be vaccinated with purified FMD vaccine.

He said it was regrettable that although Botswana and Zimbabwe agreed that they would vaccinate against foot and mouth disease annually, the neighbouring country said it lacked resources to do so this year. He promised farmers that any outbreak this year would not lead to the killing of livestock. Meat from foot and mouth disease areas is for the local market.

Dr Chimbombi announced that his ministry would launch a special ISPAAD programme for the Kgalagadi District at Middlepits next month.

He explained that the government reversed its decision to privatise the livestock advisory centre service because most communal farmers could not afford to buy vaccines and other requisites from the private sector. ENDS