18 Aug 2016

The government has made a decision to slash livestock feed to mitigate the impact of drought across the country.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting in Kanye on August 17, Minister of Agriculture Mr Patrick Ralotsia said Southern Africa has been badly affected by drought and did not spare Botswana; therefore mitigating factors were put in place to cushion the effects.

Mr Ralotsia who is also Kanye North legislature said   government made a deliberate decision to cut livestock feed by a further 25 per cent which denotes that subsidies now stand at 50 per cent. 

He said   government will assist on how best to mitigate the impact of drought from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017.

He said the costs reduction period for livestock feed is from July 1 to December 31, 2016 thereafter   government would evaluate if the situation is lessening or otherwise that would give relevant authorities information on what decision to take regarding the matter. 

Minister Ralotsia implored Batswana to harvest rain as water is one of the scarce resources and urged farmers to practise dry-land farming method to conserve moisture as compared to the traditional method that is susceptible to evaporation as well as using drought-resistant crops. 

He also told residents that in the next Parliament sitting in November there would be 63 parliamentarians made of a building block of 57 MPs elected by constituents and six Special Elected MPs.

He said the constitution allowed the country to have four special elected MPs .

He said Cabinet Ministers will also increase from 16 to 18 whereas Assistant ministers will increase from eight to 10. 

He said the current constitution therefore gives the President an opportunity to increase cabinet ministers and assistant ministers as well as to split ministries to enhance efficacy. ENDS