22 Aug 2019

Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has implored farmers to utilise government initiatives aimed at growing the agricultural sector in order to meet the food demand in the country.

Speaking at the ongoing National Agriculture Show in Gaborone on August 22, he said government was undertaking a number of initiatives to grow the sector, amongst them the response to the call to liberalise the export of beef and cattle market.

He said recently Parliament passed the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) Transition Bill to privatise the BMC, which essentially calls for repealing the BMC Act, making BMC a company and removing its monopoly on the beef export market.

Mr Tsogwane further said another intervention in increase of P3 per kilogram on carcass mass for cattle destined to BMC was made so as to encourage farmers to sell their cattle in preparation for the looming drought.

He said all the initiatives showed how government was committed to assisting farmers, and also proved that government recognised livestock industry contribution to the socio-economic development of the rural communities through creation of employment and income generation.

“Government has made two impact-carrying initiatives such as the introduction of beef cluster, which facilitates the growth of livestock production through active participation of farmers, which is now at the implementation stage,” he said.

The Vice President said with the above initiative, farmers were being trained and some farms had been dedicated for delivery of such initiatives and that  it was to be extended to small stock industry to facilitate growth.

He further said government had revived Lobu small stock farm for training and production of commercial and high quality small stock for replication across the country and said markets centres for the products had been identified and other farms were being assessed for replication of the initiative.

Mr Tsogwane said the country had witnessed an impressive growth in some sub-sectors of agriculture such as poultry over time and stated that the poultry industry in Botswana had grown significantly to a level where the country was self-sufficient in both eggs and broiler meat.

He said the country produced around 11 million dozes of eggs and 40 000 tonnes of broiler meat annually, something which he said should be commended.

He said the horticulture production on the other hand was showing significant growth by volume. He however, said imports amounting to over P200 million annually implied opportunity for investment and said there was a need for active participation by local farmers in the sector.

On food crops, Mr Tsogwane said the ministry had advanced efforts towards improving the sectoral productivity through a special re-vitalisation agenda within ISPAAD, with the intent to improve efficiency in production and achieve food security.

He said under the new initiative, fields were clustered, aligned to create access for transportation of farm produce, electrical and communication services to facilitate access to markets. ENDS