06 Aug 2017

 Vice President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has encouraged farmers in the Southern district to do farming as a business and regard the sector as a vehicle they could use to attain both food security and wealth.

He said government would continue developing a conducive policy environment to ensure the sector thrives.

He encouraged farmers to form cooperatives like Seed.Co, engage specialists who could help them package products like sweet reed, seeds, beans and sell to the market.

Mr Masisi has also advised farmers to take advantage of the abundant sunlight and use solar energy to run boreholes and generate electricity at their farms.

He tipped farmers that government would inject an immediate investment of over P60 million into the newly formed Botswana Institute of Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) to capacitate the institution to build a solar energy plant in Kanye.

Mr Masisi shared that the plant would turn Kanye into a hub of solar energy products which would be sold both within and outside the country.

He said Kanye was the cradle of the first windmill, roof tiles and milling machine among others through the defunct Rural Industries Innovation Centre (RIIC).

To this end, he has urged students to position themselves to work at the envisaged solar plant by taking up Science related subjects.

Mr Masisi, also Member of Parliament for Moshupa/Manyana, informed farmers that government sponsored financiers like CEDA and the National Development Bank (NDB) would fund individuals who wanted to do business along the lines of solar energy.

Mr Masisi told farmers that government, through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), had connected Mosesedi farms to the national power grid and graded Kanye-Ditojana road, the move he described as an enabler for farmers in production zones to use and keep up with the latest farm technologies with the view to improving yields.

He argued that government had in the process, not only developed infrastructure but also created employment for many.

Meanwhile, Mr Masisi challenged Southern district residents to come up with more innovative ways to grow the show bigger and better.

He said there was little to show for the fact that the first show in the country started in Kanye 77 years ago.

“I’m disappointed that after 77 years you are still here exhibiting similar products you did when the first show started, in the same place. When I leave Parliament with Mr Ralotsia and Mr Kesupile we want to leave behind something that could speak for us. I want every child born to this nation to know that everything hinges on farming," he said.

Mr Masisi further challenged farmers to create a catalogue that would carry every information on their products ranging from seeds, eggs and breeding among others.

He further pledged his support to see the district show grow by leaps and bounds adding, “If we can’t produce for ourselves, know that producers see market when they look at us."

Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security and Member of Parliament for Kanye North, Mr Patrick Ralotsia said his ministry’s 2017-2023 strategy would revolve around national food self-sufficiency.

He said agric shows were therefore intended to give Batswana a platform to share knowledge.

Mr Ralotsia said keeping up with new ways of ploughing, growing, breeding and harvesting would indeed re-define Agriculture.

He said challenges like global warming and demands due to growing populations, among others, should propel farmers to do more.

He said business opportunities were still abundant across the sector and urged Batswana to take advantage.

Mr Ralotsia however expressed joy that many young Batswana were taking advantage of the available citizen empowerment programmes like Young Farmers Fund, LIMID and Youth Development Fund to create employment for themselves.

Nonetheless, he encouraged experienced farmers to mentor young farmers to ensure their ventures became sustainable.

Mr Ralotsia also encouraged farmers to work as a collective.

He said he was disappointed that many still found it difficult to work as syndicates.

He said the ministry would keep encouraging farmers to work together because it was the right thing to do.

In his closing remarks, Member of Parliament for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile, thanked residents for heeding his call for them to keep Mr Masisi in their prayers when he was not well.

“We subscribe to different political ideologies but we must respect the fact that we come from one source as Batswana,” he explained.

Mr Kesupile also thanked organisors, exhibitors and sponsors for putting the show together.

Mr Kesupile further thanked government for grading the Kanye-Ditojana road, which he shared was done with blessings from President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Mr Masisi and Mr Ralotsia but decried that it had since been washed away by heavy rains.

Mr Kesupile further urged the show committee chairperson, Mr Tiroyaone Mmereki to do research on whether the venue was still suitable for the event.

He argued that when he conceptualised the show in 1938, the late Kgosi Bathoen II of Bangwaketse’s vision was not limited to farm related products and activities only.

He thus encouraged the committee to come up with all year round activities rather than once a year.

Mr Seitebo Sebonego donated a Simmental bull and Mr Kingsley Gofhamodimo, a female Brahman heifer respectively, to the show committee coffers.

The bull was bought for P21 000 by the highest bidder and the heifer P4000. ENDS