07 Aug 2013

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi told Parliament on Tuesday that the ministry headquarters had 110 different professionals.

Answering a question in Parliament on Tuesday, he said, the departments included NAMPAAD which had seven professionals, research statistics and policy development had 12, animal production 13, veterinary services 20, crop production 34, agribusiness promotion 18 and agricultural research had six professionals at ministry’s Headquarters.

He noted that the professional staff kept at headquarters was assigned to provide technical backstopping to extension staff at national level since they were not enough to cover every district. Specialists were shared among districts and there was a large number of professionals deployed in districts, he added.

The assistant minister also said with reference to coverage of Shoshong constituency, there were an estimated total of 17 professionals in the Mahalapye Sub-district.

“The ministry is in the process of realigning and redeploying the limited number of professionals at Headquarters according to Agro ecological zones. Therefore more officers will be redeployed, where appropriate, to districts where their expertise is needed the most,” he said.

Mr Molebatsi noted that the move was expected not only to reduce the cost associated with covering districts form Headquarters, but also improve on the quality of extension service and hence increase in production.

MP for Shoshong, Mr Phillip Makgalemele had asked the Minister of Agriculture to state the number of different experts per field stationed at the Ministry’s Headquarters and the maximum impact they directly made at national level.

The Minister was also to state the shortages of such expertise that was kept at Headquarters in comparison to the national level and the Shoshong Constituency.

Mr Makgalemele had also wanted to know whether given the costs associated with their travel, accommodation and other associated costs providing extension work and remote control support, the minister would not consider keeping a lean structure at the Headquarters and have more experts on the ground to boost on-the-ground expert support.  ENDS