14 Feb 2017

Botswana is rich in indigenous knowledge which needs to be explored to benefit the country.
This was said at a two-day capacity building workshop in Kaudwane organised by the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) in conjunction with the Southern African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL).
The workshop was aimed at capacitating the community of Kaudwane on various uses of kgengwe fruit which is abundant in their area.
Speaking at the workshop, Dr Khola Mogotsi, a plant physiologist at BUAN said it was time Botswana explored its riches and patent them to prevent foreigners stealing them, citing sengaparile and hoodia which have since been patented by foreign countries.
Dr Mogotsi said indigenous knowledge in Botswana covered a wide range of fields such as food, traditional medicine, decors and culture in general.
According to Dr Rosemary Lekalake, the capacity building workshop came as a way of giving feedback to the community of Kaudwane after BUAN came for a needs assessment and how the fruit could be used to uplift the community in 2015.
She said they also intend to use the findings to help kick-start especially women operated businesses as a way of uplifting them, especially in areas such as production, yields and marketing of kgengwe products.
Giving a presentation, Dr Nelson Tselaesele, a rural sociologist at BUAN said the current or potential value of kgengwe was still unknown, hence the current practice where it is just given for free.
“In future, with knowledge, it may be sold together with its products,” he said.
The workshop equipped the community in various issues such as the production and yields of kgengwe, pests and diseases that affects it, post-harvest storage, soil and water requirements as well as seed treatment and planting among others. For his part, Kgosi Keene Ramathaatoga said the workshop came in handy for them as all they knew was just gathering for subsistence without knowledge of any other possible uses like business.
He urged his subjects to ensure they used the new knowledge acquired to uplift themselves, especially that the fruit was abundant in their area at no cost.
Kgosi Ramathaatoga also encouraged BUAN to keep on sharing with them any additional knowledge they discovered as they did more research on the fruit.
The community of Kaudwane on the other hand, pleaded with BUAN to make their village a centre of research in the field of kgengwe and any other indigenous natural resources abundant in their area, such as mogose, mokapane, mahupu and others.
They said this would also help them get more involved and benefit more on such natural resources. ENDS