18 Feb 2019

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi says opportunities abound in the agricultural sector to assist in advancement of the country’s economic growth. 

He said this in an interview after touring Silver Horizon and Doeks Rothman’s farms in the Ghanzi District recently.

His visit was meant to appreciate efforts of farmers who started potato production in the district. 

Dr Masisi said government planned to turn agriculture into a fully-fledged commercialised and diversified sector. 

He, therefore, encouraged farmers to take lead in the economic diversification drive through promotion and implementation of agricultural technologies. 

He called on small scale farmers to utilise Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) to their advantage. 

He said they could also benchmark from large scale farmers to enhance their farming skills and improve the agricultural sector output. 

In an effort to support farmers who faced stiff competition from neighbouring countries, he said government had taken a decision to ban importation of potatoes and other vegetables. 

The ban, he said, would not last long because countries signed a trade agreement during the last sitting of the African Union (AU) to allow flexible business transactions to an estimated population of about 1.3 billion across the continent and later expand to international markets. 

He, therefore, encouraged farmers to tap on this opportunity by producing quality products that would compete fairly in these large markets. 

On other issues, President Masisi said government was working around the clock to tackle Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) woes since the organisation had been faced with cash flow challenges. 

He said the challenges were due to the fact that Lobatse abattoir maintained Francistown and Maun abattoirs resulting in BMC running at a loss. 

Silver horizon’s farm director, Mr Petrus Michau said it was through their partnership with Mr Lambertus Voster that they managed to venture into horticultural production that he said was not common in the Ghanzi District. 

However, he said they saw it fit to follow the diversification drive by specialising in potato production, which he said was doing well. 

He appreciated the government decision to ban importation of potatoes from neighbouring countries. 

 Mr Michau further said potato production required high yields of water and cool weather but since they were operating in an arid area, they used irrigation system. 

He stated that they were challenged by high electricity tariffs to connect to the national electricity grid and pleaded with Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Development to assist with electricity subsidy. 

In his remarks, Minister of Agricultural Development and Food security, Mr Patrick Ralotsia, applauded the farmers for their efforts in taking lead in the economic diversification drive. 

He urged them to continue with the hard work to transform the agricultural sector in the region. 

The minister also promised that he would engage with the Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security to discuss the electricity tariffs subsidy and other challenging factors as a way of attracting farmers into agricultural production. ENDS