27 Feb 2013

The Ministry of Agriculture has been encouraged to develop small scale farmers instead of focusing on big commercial farmers.

The MP for Kgalagadi North, Mr Phillip Khwae said this when debating the Ministry of Agriculture budget proposals. He said if small farmers were neglected, they would continue to underperform.

The MP said the agriculture ministry should also expedite the fencing policy and treat it with the urgency it deserved.  On other issues, he said the bolus system came with a lot of challenges for farmers and pleaded with the minister to ensure that the ear tags rollout programme was carried out smoothly.

 Furthermore, he requested the minister to ensure that there was increased manpower to effectively implement the ear tags.

The Vice President and MP for Mmadinare, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe supported the ministry’s request but decried the low prices paid to farmers in Zone 7. In addition, the Vice President noted that signs were there that the drought which crippled the country last year might return.

He also urged the ministry to help farmers in Robelela to take cattle to the market through a subsidy. He observed that after the killing of FMD cattle in Robelela, farmers moved their cattle from other areas in Zone 7 into the area.

Dr Kedikilwe suggested that Zone 7 should be divided with areas near the Zimbabwean border concentrating on horticulture near the Dikgathong Dam. He said there was need to keep a large area from the border out of reach for cattle to prevent further outbreaks of the disease.

 However, he stressed that there was need for consultations with farmers in the area. On the issue of restocking, he advised the ministry to procure cattle far away from the zone to avoid a situation where cattle returned to their former areas.

 He also maintained that as a way of ensuring that agriculture projects by the youth do not collapse, there was need to assign them mentors who are established farmers to teach them about the sector.

 The MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule encouraged the agriculture ministry to make concerted efforts to ensure that the country achieved food self-sufficiency by listening to farmer’s concerns.

 He also expressed concern about the management of Botswana Meat Commission and called on the minister to ensure that the commission operated for the benefit of farmers.  “The Meat Inspection School has been neglected since 1992 and currently does not have an abattoir where students could carry out their practicals,” he said.

 The MP for Tonota South, Mr Pono Moatlhodi thanked the ministry’s staff for their response during the FMD outbreak.  However, he raised concern with cattle from Zone 6 A which were being killed by the ministry when they graze along the railway line in his constituency.

 Mr Moatlhodi, who is also the Deputy Speaker, condemned what he termed the indiscriminate killing of cattle and their burning without ascertaining whether they had the disease or not. He urged the Ministry of Agriculture to build kraals where the cattle could be held and tested to avoid impoverishing farmers.

 Mr Moatlhodi also expressed appreciation that about 7 000 cattle would be availed for restocking in his constituency.  On the LIMID programme, he said it did not make sense that the office, which services his constituency, was located in Selebi-Phikwe.

 He also requested the ministry to build an artificial insemination centre at Sasau in his constituency.  In addition, he applauded the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for availing P3 million which was used for the electrification of horticulture farms in Gulushabe, and requested that the second phase of the programme be rolled out.

 On other issues, he pleaded with the ministry to allow horticulture farmers to employ Zimbabwean labourers as they are faced with human resource challenges. ENDS