31 Mar 2019

Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) chief executive officer, Mr Keletsositse Olebile, says time is now for the agricultural sector to take off given its capacity to absorb across the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour force.

Officially opening the Agriculture Thought Leadership Forum in Gaborone, Mr Olebile said the forum sought to identify ways of promoting opportunities across the sector value chain.

Mr Olebile said President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi had pronounced the importance of the agriculture sector hence the need for it to be supported.

“The agricultural sector was at one point a leading contributor to the GDP at around 40 per cent, and has since declined significantly to around 2 per cent,” he said.

He pointed out that since government had been aggressively pursuing economic diversification as a strategy to reduce the economy’s reliance on the mining sector, it was imperative to promote and grow a sustainable agricultural sector.

Mr Olebile mentioned that the sector remained vital for many Batswana who operate farming ventures in the sector for both commercial and subsistence purposes, creating jobs for both skilled and unskilled labour.

He confirmed that indeed agriculture was a sector where most Batswana had skills and experience as they have been involved with it for a very long time.

Regarding the forum, Mr Olebile said expectations were that the engagement and discussions would go a long way in reviving the sector by assisting to create investment linkages across the entire agricultural value chain.

“The livestock sub-sector, particularly cattle rearing contributes significantly towards the agricultural GDP, where the production exceeds domestic demand hence the continuous beef exports to EU and other markets,” he said.

He stated that with an estimated cattle population of over 2 million the country should endeavour to develop modern cattle farming methods with suitable abattoir and slaughter facilities as well as product marketing channels to grow exports and meet the EU beef quota.

He said this would present opportunities to further enhance and increase the contribution of the agricultural sector in Botswana.

Furthermore, Mr Olebile stated that the crop production sub-sector, which was dominated by grains production, was also very key, as it has the potential to contribute significantly to the sector by both value and volume.

He said the national grain production only meets 18 per cent of the domestic demand, comprising mainly by sorghum, maize and millet, saying that could be significantly increased.

He mentioned that the other sub-sectors of the agriculture sector included small stock farming, dairy, game farming, poultry, piggery, fishery, beekeeping, agro-processing, which Mr Olebile said they should also be promoted for business opportunities as there was high demand for their products, with the potential for exports.

Mr Olebile, however, stated that he was aware of some of the challenges that besiege the agricultural sector and impede on its growth and improvement.

Amongst others, he mentioned issues of availability of markets, product pricing, infrastructure, climate change, technological advancement. Ends