19 Jun 2014

Agriculture will play a major role in economic diversification as the country reduces its dependence on mineral resources for its economic growth and sustainability, the Botswana College of Agriculture (BCA) acting principal, Dr Mataba Tapela has said.

Dr Tapela was responding to a questionnaire on the progress and preparations being done, regarding the transformation of BCA to a fully-fledged university.

Government, he said, approved that BCA should become a University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in August 2013. This move, he said was made in realising that there was need for a university that would focus on developing human resource and research to solve problems associated with all phases of the agricultural value chain, because as the human population in Botswana grows more food would be needed.

The new university, he said would also support government initiatives such as the; Agricultural Education and Innovation hubs, Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development, the Zambezi Agricultural Development Project and National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development.

He added that BCA would contribute towards increasing access to tertiary education by enrolling up to 5,000 students in its programmes. This, Dr Tapela said would be in line with the Tertiary Education Policy recommendation of increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio to 17 per cent by 2016 in order to contribute to Vision 2016 pillar of an educated and informed nation.

To ensure that the transformation takes effect, he said the current BCA Act No. 9 of 1991 had to be repealed and a new Act that established the university also had to be approved by Parliament.

From January 2014, Dr Tapela said he was appointed by the BCA Governing Council as the Acting Principal of BCA to lead the transformation process and team by working with the Ministry of Agriculture to draft the new university Act and to develop a transformation plan that would ensure seamless transition from a college to a university status.

So far, Dr Tapela said BCA had drafted the Act and it was ready for finalisation by the Attorney General’s Office.

“We hope that the Bill will be presented to Parliament during the July 2014 session of Parliament. The draft transformation plan is being finalised for consideration by BCA Governing Council in June 2014,” he added.

The transformation plan, which is being developed through benchmarking with regional and international universities outlines the; new organisational structure, academic structures, and transition strategies with regard to personnel, students and physical resources. Risk factors and mitigation strategies are also considered.

A transformation budget is also included in the plan. ENDS