30 Jul 2017

Tutume Sub-district council chairperson, Mr Ishmael Mokgethi says growth in the agricultural sector is impetus for rural poverty eradication.

Officiating at the sub-district council’s agricultural show in Tutume on Saturday, Mr Mokgethi noted that it was important that farmers and Batswana understood the importance of the sector in the country’s economy and in uplifting households in having enough food.

This year’s theme, Practicing Smart Agriculture to Combat the Effect of Climate Change, he said was relevant in implementing agricultural objectives and targets to enable the sector to contribute to the country’s overarching strategy for economic and social development.

He said it also addressed technologies that the agriculture sector had to adopt to improve productivity despite challenges of climate change such as global warming, drought and frosts.

Mr Mokgethi added that the theme enhanced trade promotion, market support level, which involved grain and beef trading under the auspices of Botswana Marketing Board (BAMB) and Botswana Meat Commission (BMC).

He stated that in the beef sector, the country embraced the introduction of Livestock Traceability System (LITS), which was an endeavour to meet market requirements.

Another important development, he noted was the liberalisation of grain industry to improve competitiveness and lower grain prices pointed out that BAMB was mandated to adopt import parity pricing and its import monopoly was removed to ensure staple food prices.

Mr Mokgethi said district shows were important tools used by agriculture demonstrators as key agents in assisting farmers to follow new technologies in the sector as well as for farmers themselves to be able to interact and guide one another in various aspects across the sector. ENDS