08 Aug 2018

 Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Mr Thapelo Olopeng has encouraged residents of Tonota to utilise the Shashe River and invest in horticulture.

Mr Olopeng, who is also the Member of Parliament for Tonota, was addressing famers during the official opening of the Tonota Agricultural Show.

The show had different activities such as horse racing, football and trade exhibitions.

He noted that residents of Tonota lived close to the Shashe River which had abundant water hence the need for them to focus on horticulture production.

He was of the view that unlike other places in Botswana, where there was plenty of land for communal grazing, Tonota did not have such. Their situation, he added, required them to focus on investing in farming that was supported by wet planting since the river had water for irrigation.

Minister Olopeng explained that Tonota faced the unfortunate situation of being in a region identified as Foot and Mouth Disease risky zone.

The minister noted that being situated along the Shashe River had advantages as Tonota had been designated as a special economic zone under the horticultural hub.

He advised residents and farmers to take advantage of such opportunities as people in other regions. He gave an example of the Ghanzi region, which he said had taken advantage of abundant grazing land which was conducive for rearing animals.

This, the minister explained, had seen residents of that area focusing on rearing animals rather than arable agriculture.

Furthermore, MP Olopeng said government was committed to assisting farmers along the Shashe River, and noted that the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security had installed electricity for farms along the river.

He also said the agriculture ministry had secured funds amounting to P7 million which would be used to construct the road along the river on the way to Gulushabe.

This, he explained, was an effort by government to service roads that connected the country with its production areas.

He explained that the idea was aimed at creating accessible roads in order to assist farmers to transport their produce to the market.

Minister Olopeng also revealed that government was considering improving ISPAAD, the idea being to assist farmers and residents to debush their ploughing fields.

He said they were also considering implementing a policy that would encourage people to plough since they had observed that most people did not plough for different reasons which had left some fields unserviced.

On other issues, he advised the youth to invest in agriculture, noting that they had a tendency of disregarding farming as a potential employment creating industry.

He said farming had long changed and was now technology based.

He said since their parents owned the land, the youth should come aboard with their expertise in technology and create employment for themselves and others.

He explained that the partnership was imperative for economic growth.

With regard to the agricultural show, Minister Olopeng commended show organisers, noting that despite the late rains they managed to host the show.

He also advised them to forge relationships with different stakeholders in the community and business fraternity.

However, Minister Olopeng expressed his displeasure with the state of the show grounds, and appealed to the committee to work on its improvement.

He said there was need to develop the infrastructure of the grounds.

For his part, Kgosi Bokamoso Radipitse of Tonota expressed his delight with the progress of the show over the years.

He said he was happy for having assisted the committee when they came to him for help to legally secure the show grounds and establish a committee guided by a constitution.Kgosi Radipitse said it was only by doing things the right way that they could one day meet the standards set by established shows such as the Ghanzi show. ENDS