11 Oct 2016

It is once again ploughing season and farmers are preparing to go to the fields.

Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) Bobonong branch manager, Ms Onalethata Machacha has said her office was giving out seeds to farmers in the Bobonong area after being given coupons by agricultural demonstrators.

Ms Machacha said the seeds include lab-lab, maize, sorghum and fertilizers.

Ms Machacha also explained contract farming saying the farmer enters into an agreement with BAMB to sell them the produce after harvesting at a certain price per certain amount of crop produce.

In this way she said a farmer is guaranteed income in the event of changes in prices due to unforseen circumstances after harvest period.

In an interview, Mr Tshwaranang Tshekiso, a farm mechanisation officer at the Department of Crop Production in Bobonong, said they provided seeds at a 100 per cent subsidy.

Mr Tshekiso also said herbicides and pesticides were provided at 50 per cent subsidy.

He said there were two categories of farmers, emerging and subsistence farmers whom they assisted.

Mr Tshekiso said emerging farmers till up to a maximum of 15 hectares and subsistence farmers up to five hectares.

He added that farmers were paid P800 per hectare and a further P360 if a disk harrow was used per hectare.

This applies to row planting and for broadcasting they pay 50 per cent of the above mentioned amounts, he said.

Mr Tshekiso said they were expecting normal to above normal rainfall as projected by meteorological services and encouraged farmers to plant a variety of crops unlike in the past season where maize was preferred as it was resistant to drought conditions. ENDS