31 Jul 2017

The dream of Botswana to attain self-sufficiency in food security lies in farmers taking agriculture seriously and treating farming as a business.

Officially opening the Letlhakeng Agricultural Show on Saturday, the director of Agricultural Research, Statistics and Policy Development in the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security,

Ms Mmadima Nyathi said her ministry wants commitment from farmers to run farming as business, hence the ministry’s commitment in assisting farmers with various programmes such as ISPAAAD and LIMID.

She said because of government’s commitment to food security, it took the decision that the ministry be one of the ministries that benefitted from ESP.

She said because of low production, the country spent a lot on agricultural imports, and that P7 billion was spent annually on imports such as milk, fruits and vegetables, chicken as well as pork.

Ms Nyathi said if farmers produced enough food for the country, the funds would be channelled to other areas of need such as employment creation. She said the high spending on imports should stir local farmers to work hard.

She commended all the farmers who brought their exhibits to the show, saying taking part in the show would help them learn from others. She urged farmers to form cooperatives in order to share ideas.

Ms Nyathi also urged Batswana, especially the youth, to engage in agriculture rather than white collar jobs.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Tumelo Puleng said the Letlhakeng area was active in utilising government initiatives despite the challenges encountered.

He said people in the area were appreciative of various government assistance programmes even though the youth were still lagging behind in farming.

Letlhakeng Agricultural Show chairperson, Mr Jacob Lebeko said the show had been running for 23 consecutive years, and that many shows across the country had learnt form it.

He said the many shows across the country should be a warning to them to work even harder to make their show an exception as there was competition for sponsors.

He urged women to take part in small stock farming as it was less demanding and rewards handsomely. Councillor Stella Segwagwa lamented shortage of transport for the ministry’s officials, and said it hampered them from delivering good service to farmers. ENDS