02 Sep 2014

Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi has challenged the residents of  Moiyabana to adopt modern and improved farming ways in order for Botswana to be self-sufficient in food production.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting on September 1, Mr Molebatsi encouraged beneficiaries of  ISPAAD to adopt row planting at the expense of the traditional broadcasting method whose results were deemed inferior to the former.

He attributed Botswana’s improved food security to the ISPAAD. The SADC Food Security Report stated that Botswana had increased food supply by 552 per cent.

He disclosed that initially Botswana produced 31 metric tonnes of output and has since escalated to 200 000 metric tonnes last year.

However, Mr Molebatsi warned farmers not to sit on their laurels advising them that they still could export their harvest to neighbouring countries even though such an exercise may come with its terms and conditions.

Mr Molebatsi also urged public servants to venture into farming demonstrating the benefits of farming with figures. 

He said that a public servant owning a hectare of land could use it to produce 40 000 heads of cabbage which would translate to P200 000 after only three months.

He also discouraged the idea that backyard farming was for poor people and cautioned that farming generally requires hardwork and labour.

As for livestock, the assistant minister told the residents of  Moiyabana that the European market was intransigent when it comes to traceability of the meat and hence insisted on bolus insertion and ear tagging.

“They want beef that meets international standards and they will not be shaken into compromising that,” Mr Molebatsi said and added that Botswana has sent beef samples to Kuwait for consideration as a possible market.

He revealed that Batswana, unlike the South Africans where a population of 52 million provided a market for the nine million cattle population, were disadvantaged because the cattle population of three million was superior to that of Batswana that stood at two million. 

He warned the residents that ear tags were not meant to curb cattle rustling but for traceability function.

On other issues, Mr Molebatsi informed the people that his ministry has taken a decision to provide beneficiaries of LIMID with animals they so require unlike previously where the onus was put on beneficiaries to source potential sellers.

With this arrangement farmers will be informed of the purchasing day where ministry officials will buy livestock and distribute to the beneficiaries without the latter incurring expenses.

The move has been found to reduce chances of scheming, expedite payments to farmers inter alia.Chicken farmers, according to Mr Molebatsi, will be supplied with Newcastle vaccine for free following its outbreak recently

He also informed the residents that the sexed semen from Norway is expected this month in order to improve dairy production in the country. 

Tswana cattle will be artificially inseminated with the sexed semen in order to produce female offsprings which will be 50 per cent Tswana. 

The move is intended to address milk shortage in the country where only five million litres of the 60 million litres required annually is produced locally. ENDS