22 Sep 2019

Pandamatenga agricultural infrastructure development valued at over P600 million was on September 20 handed to the community.

The project, which is a collaborative effort between government and African Development Bank, is in line with Botswana Agricultural Policy objective of food security.

It encompasses the drainage system, road network and electrified fence.

When handing over the project, Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Fidelis Molao explained that Pandamatenga was the biggest agricultural production zone in the country, hence the decision to undertake the multi-million pula project in the area.

“The philosophy of funding this project targets public and private sector investment in agriculture, for the purpose of increasing sectoral output and productivity through diversification, employment creation and environmental conservation to ensure sustainability for production,” he said.

He further said the area was one of the highly suitable areas for arable agriculture because of the ample rainfall of 600mm per annum and fertile soils.

The minister, however, said since the area was characterised by black cotton soils, which was good for crop production, it was also susceptible to poor drainage that led to frequent flooding of the farms resulting in losses to the farming community.

For his part, the Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Machana Shamukuni thanked government for the project that was one of the activities geared towards socio-economic development of the people of Chobe District.

Mr Shamukuni said the project brought a ray of hope for the country towards attainment of food security.

For his part, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Jimmy Opelo said in 1997, the Department of Crop Production set up a task force to determine the critical problems limiting the optimal performance of the Pandamatenga farms.

He said it was established that the problems were lack of drainage system, which resulted in periodic flooding with crop losses, lack of proper all-weather road which resulted in inaccessibility of the farms during the rainy season.

Mr Opelo said in 2006, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning requested the African Development Bank to finance the drainage system and road network project.

Chairperson of the Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association, Mr Herman Venter thanked government for ensuring completion of the project.

Pandamatenga Small Scale Farmers Association chairperson, Mr Edgar Moyo, noted that at the beginning, they did not realise the importance of the project but had since started to reap its benefits. Ends