04 Dec 2014

Government tractors operating under the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) programme can only operate within a radius of not more than 20km, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture informed Parliament on  December 3. 

Answering a question in Parliament, Mr Patrick Ralotsia said the decision was informed by the fact that tractors were not meant for travelling long distances but rather to plough and plant.

He said any longer distance than the stipulated 20km radius may lead to the damaging of the tractor’s hydraulic system especially that they had to carry implements and travel along bad field roads as well.

He said it was important to note that most ploughing/planting seasons in Botswana were characterised by a narrow window of ploughing/planting operations due to shortage of soil moisture and erratic rainfall.

The assistant minister said it was therefore crucial that tractors were engaged more in ploughing/planting than travelling to take advantage of limited soil moisture and maximize the area planted.

He further said ISPAAD tractors were not enough to cover all farmers within the Agricultural Service Centre radius of 20km and in that regard, government engaged private tractor owners to plough/plant for subsistence farmers to augment the shortfall.

Mr Ralotsia said it was government’s considered view that there was no need to buy more tractors as Batswana have tractors.

“Therefore government is encouraging the private sector to participate so that they can be economically empowered through ISPAAD,” he said.

The Assistant Minister further said his ministry was aware of complaints by farmers that some contracted private tractor owners required advanced payments in addition to what government paid.

“The rates for ploughing/planting operations cater for fuel, service labour and any related costs,” he said, adding that the cost for fuel was included in the rates paid to private tractor owners engaged by government to plough/plant. He said therefore private tractor owners were encouraged to source funds for fuel; they also had an opportunity to secure seasonal loans at a reduced interest rate from the National Development Bank (NDB) through the ISPAAD programme where they get the loan interest subsidy which is the difference between the market rate and prime rate.

He further said the rates for ploughing/planting operations were improved in the 2012 ISPAAD review exercise and the revised rates catered for price increase for fuel, service labour and any related costs.

“Ploughing and row planting (conventional tillage) is P800 per ha, minimum tillage (tined tillage) is P500 per ha and harrowing (where applicable) is P360 per ha,” said Mr Ralotsia.

He said, notwithstanding that prices for labour, service etc, fluctuate regularly, the current rates for ploughing and planting under the programme were considered reasonable.

Mr Ralotsia said with regard to prices offered by the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB), Botswana was a net importer of most grain commodities; hence BAMB had adopted import parity pricing in determining prices.

He said import parity pricing based the price on what it would cost to bring a product that is being imported into the country from the open market.

He indicated that in the model, BAMB therefore added the transport cost from Randburg to Pitsane to the safex price, less 2 per cent for moisture loss and impurities and less 15 per cent for mark up as agreed between BAMB, farmers and traders representatives. 

MP for Kanye South Mr Abram Kesupile had asked the Minister of Agriculture to state improvements in favor of the current ploughing season in view of recutting complaints about failure to get government tractors due to restrictive 20km radius from the service centre, failure of some poor farmers to plough due to advanced payments required by private tractor owners, complaints that ISPAAD rates review in 2012 are no longer relevant and need to be increased substantially.

Mr Kesupile had also asked about the complaints that the bringing price for “thobo ya rona” by BAMB were too low. ENDS