03 May 2018

Botswana Horticulture Council (BOHOCO) chairperson, Mr Boithego Phole has implored horticultural farmers in Bobirwa to up their game and take the sector seriously.

Speaking during an event to familiarise horticultural farmers with the mandate of the council, Mr Phole said the producer based council intended to develop horticultural sector in the country.

Mr Phole said the council had a strategic plan to deal with challenges facing the industry and satisfy the market and as a result appealed to farmers to have strong horticultural associations in their respective areas and affiliate to the council.

Mr Phole said BOHOCO wanted to see farmers producing enough horticultural products for consumption locally and export the surplus.

The sector, he said currently faced many challenges such as lack of incentives as compared to other sectors.

BOHOCO is an advocacy body that stands to mitigate challenges faced by farmers. It also intended engaging the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security to design national strategy for agriculture development on horticulture.

Mr Phole said they had engaged financial institutions such as National Development Bank, CEDA and others to assist farmers with seasonal loans.

They have also solicited an insurance cover with Aon Botswana called All Risk to insure farmers’ produce.

He further stated that they wanted to establish a database for all horticulture farmers so that they could implement a cropping plan.

However, he expressed disappointment that some farmers were not willing to join horticultural associations, saying that could lead to lack of quality assurance, which might be hazardous to the consumer.

Mr Phole appealed to farmers to practice good agricultural practices that would help them penetrate the foreign market.

He implored them to collaborate with private institutions, training institutions and banks for assistance and could achieve that by joining associations in their areas.

He said failure to work together as farmers could result in the country failing to meet demands of certain crops thereby forcing the country to resort to importation of such food.

For his part, Bobirwa Sub- district agricultural officer, Mr Federic Ramontsho said the market for horticulture produce in the country was available but required commitment on the part of farmers.

Bobirwa, he said was earmarked for horticulture under the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) because it had good soils and a lot of underground water suitable for irrigation and concurred that forming associations was key.

Another speaker, chairperson of Bobonong Boasa Boapele Cooperative, Mr Lemme Mazebedi told farmers that they started as a horticultural association with 54 members and only 10 are active and selling their produce through it.

He said the cooperative was established to buy produce from local farmers in the sub district but were unable to meet the supply forcing them to import some produce to meet the demand.

Mr David Mapeta of Bobirwa Horticultural Farmers Association explained that their association was still new with six members and its mandate was to promote the business in the area.

A horticultural officer, Mr Khumo Motlhanka said the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security encouraged farmers to form associations so that they could be easily assisted with advice and implements as a group rather than individually. ENDS