07 Jun 2015

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has partnered with Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in an effort to raise awareness on issues of imports and exports. This was revealed during the launching of  the initiative funded to the tune of US$218 000. 

The bio-security project is aimed at developing an appropriate communications system and training stakeholders on the regulation of imports and exports.

Speaking at the launch of the project themed Improving Compliance with Agricultural Imports and Exports in Botswana recently, agriculture minister Mr Patrick Ralotsia said government found it prudent to seek technical assistance from FAO to improve compliance to agricultural import/export regulation.

He noted that the agricultural sector remains an important source of food and provides income, employment and investment opportunities for the majority of the population in rural areas, thus assisting the government in addressing the crucial development needs of food security, poverty eradication, socio-economic growth and environmental management.

He said in recent times, the world, Botswana included, witnessed an emergence of cross-border pests and diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease and Fruit Fly.
For his part, FAO Country Representative Mr David Tibe said Botswana signed to FAO in 1987, and since then major areas of FAO TCP support to Botswana have been in animal disease control and emergency response operations, including capacity building and agricultural support systems.

“The purpose of TCP is to make FAO’s technical competence rapidly available to member countries at their request in order to contribute to solving the most pressing development problems in agriculture,” he said. ENDS