28 Jul 2016

Arable farming remains the dominant livelihood activity in the rural areas and a substantial source of employment, food and income.

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse, said this in response to a question from the Member of Parliament for Francistown West, Mr Ignatius Moswaane on July 27.

Mr Autlwetse said his ministry had put in place a number of interim measures of interventions such as conservation agriculture, which promoted methods that conserved both moisture and soil.

“These measures include deep and shallow ripping, winter ploughing, minimum or zero tillage and use of drought tolerant crops such as sorghum,” he said.

Furthermore, the assistant minister stated that several comprehensive strategies that guided the developments in arable farming such as Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD), the Agricultural Services Support Project (ASSP) and Zambezi Agro-commercial Integrated Development Project were to raise productivity in the arable sub-sector.

He, however, said he was not aware that arable farming was no longer viable due to unreliable rainfall.

“This is because of the continuing significant growth recorded by commercial farmers who produce an average of three tons per hectare of cereal, while subsistence farmers produce up to 500kg per hectare in spite of unreliable rainfall,” said Mr Autlwetse.

Mr Moswaane had asked the minister if he was aware that arable farming was no longer viable due to unreliable rainfall.

Mr Moswaane also wanted to know why there was no interim measure to remedy the situation and if there was any comprehensive strategy to improve the situation. Ends