08 Dec 2015

Time is now for Batswana to start treating agriculture as a business that requires necessary attention for it to prosper.

Speaking at the launch of AgriBusiness Forum Botswana and Agricultural Marketing and Early Warning Information (AMEWI), former minister of agriculture, Mr Christiaan De Graaff, said climate change was a hindrance to sustainable food production, as such Batswana should not engage in agriculture as a weekend pass-time activity.

“Agriculture is the backbone of everyone’s livelihood and one should always look to do it as a business and help the country produce food,” he said.

AgriBusiness Forum Botswana and AMEWI were founded by a young Motswana woman, Ms Thato Supang. 

The launch was focused more on AMEWI, which is an online system that assists farmers and agribusiness to access early warning information, market updates and prices, production information, trading platform, industry directory, among others, to assist in improving farm production as well as grow the agribusiness industry.

Mr De Graaff welcomed AMEWI saying the development would help farmers because more often than not farming failed because of lack of information.

“Agriculture has and will always be important and has the potential to diversify our economy and contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is really encouraging that more women are getting involved in this sector,” said Mr De Graaff.

He said AMEWI had shortened the information gap because for a farmer, current and early information was crucial. 

Mr Tshepo Tsheko, an official from Botswana Innovation Hub said people the world over traded in information and those who succeeded maximised the information they had access to.

Mr Tsheko applauded AMEWI, which is part of a research project done with partnership with the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa , adding, “we live in a digital economy and I want to urge Batswana farmers to take up this new initiative and not shun it”. 

He warned that if Batswana did not see the value in AMEWI, other nations will utilise it.

Mr Tsheko applauded the youth for their innovative ideas.

“Youth empowerment is very important and it is something I am very passionate about. We are not about handouts, but rather enabling the youth to dream big and do their own things,” he said, adding that passion needs direction.

For her part, Ms Supang decried that the agriculture sector is under-utilised in Botswana. 

He attributed the problem to inaccessibility of funds, under-utilised land and lack of access to proper and relevant information, among others.

She further said she had been told in the past that her dream of having such a project was a waste of time because farmers do not use technology, they like doing things the old way.

“People will be very surprised to learn that farmers are very advanced,” she said.

 “You find that many times farmers produce the same thing and end up not being able to sell because they do not know what the market requires,” said Ms Supang.

Ms Supang urged people to engage with the youth and not label them as burdens, but rather empower them and give them room to be innovative and move the country forward. Ends