28 Jan 2015

Pandamatenga farmers are positive about this year’s harvest notwithstanding challenges such as unpredictable rainfall.

Mr and Mrs Cumming who own a 1 000 hectare farm in Pandamatenga said they were focusing on planting beans and sorghum this year. “We are happy with the amount of rainfall so far and look forward to a good harvest this year,” Mr Cumming said.

With 450mm of rain received at the time of the interview, he was still anticipating more rain in the coming days.

Another farmer, Mr Paul van Dyk also remained optimistic of this year’s harvest. Unreliable rain did not bother him that much saying slow rainfall settled well into the ground and  it was easy to retain moisture.

At the time of the interview, he had not planted yet, but was looking forward to getting started in the following 10 days. “I want 500 hectares for beans and another 500 for sorghum,” he explained.

Planting late meant he would be exposing his crops to quelea birds as they usually go for sorghum as soon as grass dries out, which might disadvantage him as his sorghum might still be in the farm around that time.  “I just hope I have enough rain to see my crops through, we are chasing moisture,” he said adding that he was currently on 250 mm.

Mr Kholisani Mpofu was also optimistic, despite needing more land to produce. At 550 hectares, Mr Mpofu intended to put all of it under production and hoped to get more land to contribute in feeding the nation.

“Most people who apply for farms do not have the passion for farming and as such sell land as soon as it is allocated to them,” he noted. The other challenge he had already observed was rats and mice.

Mr Cumming shared the same sentiments, saying after a year of good harvests, rats and mice became a problem in the farms. Good rains, he said, helped in drowning the mice in their nests on the ground. Quelea birds might also present a problem this year. “I have seen lots of their flocks around,” Mr Cumming said.

On other issues, the farmers complained of storage especially after good harvests. Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) silos were reportedly full last season and could not take any more of the farmers’ produce. 


“The problem is that as farmers have increased production, storage has remained the same,” said Mr Cumming. He said what might work temporarily would be to have it emptied completely before the harvest season began. Pricing added salt to injury as farmers always complained about BAMB prices.

Despite the fluctuating prices, the cost of farming remained the same, even higher in most cases, he said adding their products in Pandamatenga were premium, and could not be compared to low grade sorghum from outside the country.

Mr Van Dyk agreed that silos were not adequate. “BAMB could make more money if they had trucks that come and collect harvests directly from our farms as opposed to farmers hiring trucks to get the product to BAMB,” he suggested.

In response, Pandamatenga BAMB branch manager, Mr Mpho Kgwathe said they were in the process of building three silos this year to alleviate storage problems.

Concerning pricing, he noted that they offered the best prices in the region as some of the regional bodies offered far less than BAMB. “Also we pay farmers as soon as the harvest is delivered, and honour our agreements with them,” he explained. ENDS