16 Jun 2013

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Christiaan De Graaff has urged Motokwe and Dutlwe residents to reduce their stocking rate by selling livestock.

Addressing kgotla meetings at the two villages, Minister De Graaff said there was rapid deterioration of the rangeland due to insufficient rainfall. Therefore, he encouraged farmers to provide supplements to their livestock as well as to  de-worm and vaccinate their cattle against botulism.

Mr De Graaff informed farmers about the changing cattle identification system from bolus to the electronic and analogue ear tags. On the issue of crop production, Mr De Graaff pointed out that Dutlwe and Motokwe had a good record of legume production and thus urged residents to plant crops such as beans. 

He informed residents that the current price of beans was P700 per 50kg at Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board. The minister said in order to reduce the country’s reliance on imported food, government would continue to provide assistance to farmers through ISPAAD and LIMID programmes.

For his part, kgosi Olebogeng Puleng of Motokwe applauded government for programmes such as ISPAAD, LIMID and poverty eradication saying those incentives did preserve the livelihood of Batswana.

The MP for Letlhakeng West, Mr Ngaka Ngaka, encouraged residents to take proper care of their fields to reap good yields. He also urged farmers to inform agricultural demonstrators on their crop production so that government could monitor the efficiency of the agricultural programmes.  ENDS