23 Mar 2016

Minister of Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ralotsia, says there can never be a time when the nation will cease to eat, despite inadequate food production.

Therefore, he said there was need to maximise the available land reserved for farming to feed empty stomachs everyday.

“The stomach does not know how to negotiate, it cannot tell whether there is drought, whether you are a widow or your relative is bedridden, it needs food,” he said when addressing a kgotla meeting in Tlokweng.

He said about one million hectares had been allocated for farming yet majority of such land was idling.

Minister Ralotsia said there was no how the nation would meet its food demands on idle land therefore he called on farmers to utilise land allocated to them.

“We cannot feed the country on fallow land,” added Mr Ralotsia.

He said although the country’s population continued to increase, its land would. however, not increase hence the need to maximise the already allocated land.

The minister regretted that the country was heavily relying on neighbouring countries to meet its food requirements.

He regretted that Batswana seemed to be content with the fact that they imported food from neighbours, despite that the country had good policies, laws and programmes aimed at boosting investments in the agricultural sector.

Batlokwa deputy chief, Kgosi Michael Gaborone said their area was too small and the problem was compounded by their proximity to Gaborone.

As such, the land, which was reserved for agriculture was being taken to cater for the expansion of the village and the city.

For his part, South East District Council chairman, Mr Phenyo Segokgo, appealed to the minister to aid Batlokwa with land for their farming practices. Ends