11 Jul 2017

Organisers of  the Kweneng District Show have promised a much bigger and better show scheduled for July 27-29 at Molepolole show grounds, Garanta ward.

In an interview, the chairperson of the show committee, Mr Samuel Mapitse said after evaluations that took place over the years, they saw the need to join hands with other members of the community hence partnership with Sechele 1 Trust which will in the future take over. 

“The show also targets the youth and we have extended our partnership with them. We have organised packages designed for youth who will be competing,” he said.

The show will be held under the theme: “Practicing smart agriculture to combat the effects of global warming,” and to this, Mr Mapitse said the theme was driven by the unpredictable weather conditions and global warming.

”Through the theme we are urging Batswana to practice smart agriculture in terms of high quality breeding and using advanced technological agric methods,” he said.

He said the show was open to all business sectors, and would give exhibitors an opportunity to network as well as to market their products.

He said in the past, the district show used to be popular attracting many and their entertainment option were not only limited to agricultural produce.

Mr Mapitse said even though funding was a major challenge, they were trying their best to organise a memorable event.

He explained that as part of the branding strategy, they have introduced a logo to help market the show. 

Explaining the features, he said “the round figure in the logo represents the ongoing processes of agriculture and the different farming methods that have been used. 

The wheel represents the journey of life with an innovative industry whilst the green color stands for vegetation and lime colour for food security. The brown stripes symbolise the land we plough on.”

He said since a large number of people have shown interest in the show, they have tried different things including benchmarking from other show committees including that for Serowe and Ghanzi.

 “In regard to the Serowe show, we have realised that they use judges from abroad, a technique which instill the spirit of fairness and something that we wish to explore in future. The show committee members are also not allowed to exhibit, they just run the show,” he said. 

Mr Mapitse said they would like to have permanent livestock kraals of higher quality to cater for unpredictable weather conditions. 

He said these were some of the strategies they wish adopt to enhance the stature of the show.

Activities scheduled for the show include horses riding which will be for free, dog racing which will be led by the Grey Hound Association. BOPA