04 Mar 2018

 Parliamentarians have approved a more than P2 billion budget for the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security’s recurrent and development budget expenditures for the 2018/2019 financial year.

Presenting his ministry’s budget proposals recently, agricultural development and food security minister, Mr Patrick Ralotsia, said from this amount, more than P1.3 billion was for the recurrent budget, whilst more than P1 billion was for the development budget.

The ministry’s recurrent budget for the 2018/2019 financial year, Mr Ralotsia said presented an increase of more than P234 million or over 21 per cent over 2017/2018 financial year’s recurrent budget.

From the recurrent budget, the minister said the proposed total allocation for his ministry’s departments was over P1 billion, with the largest share of more than P400 million going to the Department of Veterinary Services.

The Department of Crop Production, Mr Ralotsia said was allocated more than P200 million and the rest was allocated to other departments.

“The ministry’s four parastatals, namely; Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board, Botswana Meat Commission in Maun and National Food Technology Research Centre had been allocated a total of more than P300 million,” he said.

The remaining P113.9 million, Minister Ralotsia said was required for the remaining projects under the Departments of Agricultural Research, Veterinary Services and Animal Production at P60 million, P51.7 million and P2.1 million, respectively.

Updating the House on the ministry’s activities, Mr Ralotsia said under-utilisation of agricultural land was a major concern, which hindered efforts by the ministry to produced adequate food for the nation.

“On average, 39 per cent of arable land is utilised by farmers annually,” he explained.

He said the ministry was engaging stakeholders on the modalities of addressing the situation of under-utilised agricultural land.

On agro-business initiatives, the minister said the ministry was engaged in trade negotiations with European Free Trade Association member states with a view to increasing beef quota to Norway.

Regarding crop production, he noted that to date a total of 42 800 hectares had been planted by 8 123 farmers compared to 167 562 planted by 32 650 farmers during the 2016/17 season.

“The low hectarage planted is attributed to low rainfall received during the season,” he said.

On Botswana Meat Commission, the minister stated that a feasibility study on the liberalisation of the Botswana beef export market was commissioned. The study, he added would inform policy and regulatory reforms.

He told the House that since inception of LIMID in 2007, 14 554 youth projects had been funded countrywide. However, he said, despite the high rate of uptake of the programme, a significant number of projects were abandoned.

“This prompted the ministry to come up with innovative ways such as empowering beneficiaries with livestock management skills to mitigate the failure rate,” he said.

Contributing to the debate on the ministry’s budget proposals, MP for Serowe South, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi decried lack of an Agricultural Service Centre in Mogatsapoo, saying the minister had long promised to set up a centre there, but that had still not happened.

Dr Venson-Moitoi also complained that the road from Mogatsapoo and Mogowe to Serowe was in a bad condition, which affected farmers residing in those areas, as they had to travel through other alternative routes to go and sell their produce in Serowe.

MP for Lentsweletau/Mmopane, Mr Vincent Seretse, said agriculture was important ‘and as a country, we must be able to produce and indeed live the name of a ministry where there is food security.’

He appealed to Minister Ralotsia to ensure his ministry produced enough food to satisfy national demand, saying “food is very vital.”

Mr Seretse also raised a concern that the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product had been insignificant, and encouraged the minister to look at that number and set himself a higher percentage.

Given the recent climate change challenges, Lentsweletau/Mmopane MP said it was important for the minister to ensure that his team of researchers came up with a climate–smart agricultural approach to ensure food security in a changing climate.

Jwaneng/Mabutsane legislator, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile, thanked Mr Ralotsia for setting up an Agricultural Services Centre in his constituency, but said it was not enough as his constituents expected the centre to have been a joint ownership by farmer cooperatives.

Tati West MP, Mr Biggie Butale, expressed disappointment that the Agro-Zambezi project that was supposed to employ 20 000 people and transform the economy of Botswana was given only P4 million.

He said he understood that Batswana, by tradition, were crop growers, but said “in this time and age we must move away from subsistence farming and become more commercialised.”

For that reason, he said he supported government’s vision of cluster farms, adding that “we have reached a stage where having a one hector farm will really not help anyone.”

He added that government should consider aggregating all farms into cluster farms and having something such as Kibbutz Cooperatives seen in Israel.

"That is if really we want to move away from subsistence farming and not just farming as a hobby," he said.

Takatokwane MP, Mr Ngaka Ngaka said livestock theft was a concern and appealed to the minister to ensure his ministry also assisted farmers by upgrading the tracing system for stolen livestock, for security purposes.

Mr Ngaka also raised a concern that the ministry was not doing enough to educate Batswana about ostrich farming, saying that was another business that Batswana could venture into to transform their lives.

MP Sethomo Lelatisitswe of Boteti East, commended government’s cluster fencing initiative, saying it was resourceful, but requested the minister to ensure its budget was increased.

Mr Lelatisitswe however asked government to ensure that electricity was connected in farms, resource permitting.

Meanwhile, MP for Molepolole South, Dr Tlamelo Mmatli, said government needed to be ready to assist farmers who would not reap anything from their harvest, given the loss they made due to late rainfall, adding that some people did not even manage to plough.

Dr Mmatli said even the extension of the ploughing season, by seven days, was too short and most people failed to take advantage of it. ENDS