18 Oct 2016

 Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) chief executive officer, Mr Edison Woto, has called on farmers to go on contract farming with them in order to enjoy benefits that come with such an arrangement.

    Officiating at the board’s road show in Tutume on Monday, Mr Woto said farmers often complained that BAMB purchasing prices were low and as such discouraged them from selling their produce to BAMB. 

However, he said they had since established contract agreements, which they offered to farmers so that they produce enough yields to cater for the whole nation and even beyond borders.

 With the contract agreements, a bag would be bought for P120 while a tonne would be bought for P2 400 for Mr Buster sorghum while maize would be P135 per bag with the tonne going for P2 700.

“Through the contract we want to entice farmers to go into commercial farming, which in return will put them into real business instead of ploughing for consumption only,” he said.

He therefore urged farmers to take advantage of the arrangement so that upon ploughing they would already know where to sell their yields.

On other issues, he pointed out that during their road shows, they were accompanied by their partners. 

Among such partners were SeedCo, which he said had over 76 years in business providing seeds of quality. 

Zam Seeds and Cross Corn were also part of the road show and they advised farmers on a variety of seeds they could use.

Through partnership with different stakeholders, Mr Woto said, BAMB would help the government meet its mandate of improving food security. 

He added that they would, in the near future, build grain storage reserves similar to those at Pitshane. 

And with such a target, they urged farmers to do their part and help them achieve such a goal.

Meanwhile, Tutume region agricultural demonstrator, Mr Namati Thapelo said the area had potential to reach commercial farming status if only the farmers could be dedicated. 

Many of the failures, he said, resulted from the fact that farmers did not look after their fields, but leave all the responsibility to employees. 

And with the government having extended a helping hand through ISPAAD, it is upon farmers to make use of such an initiative and help government feed the nation and diversify the economy, he said. ENDS