31 Oct 2019

The National Development Bank (NDB) is set to revolutionise the farming industry into a more lucrative and viable economic player for the growth of the country’s economy through innovation and partnerships.

Speaking during NDB’s Agri-loans product promotional launch in Francistown on Wednesday, NDB Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lorato Morapedi said this would add to the organisation’s many other endeavours as the year 2019 marks 55 years of its existence.

Under the campaign’s theme; We Understand Farming Differently, a six-month product promotion of two of NDB’s popular products was launched.

The two revamped products; Temo Bokamoso and Ntlhatlosa kwa morakeng loans now qualify those who apply to stand a chance to win solar energy equipment worth P50 000.

Ms Morapedi said the campaign for the two schemes would be accessible to both aspiring and experienced farmers, and it is more open to those who are working.

This, she said, was their quest to support the nation’s aspirations in the attainment of food security.

“Our choice for agriculture has always been because we believe agriculture is the backbone of any successful nation globally, for self-sustenance and economic stability,” she said.

Therefore, she said NDB’s aim has also been about transforming farming projects into massive commercial establishments and put agriculture as a top priority to enhancing the country’s economy.

As the theme of the campaign resonates with NDB’s Letsema 2019-2022 strategy, which puts agriculture as one of the niche sectors of the country, Ms Morapedi said the strategy emphasised on the need of closely working hand in hand with stakeholders.

She added that this would harness the use of technology, innovation and partnerships to improve yields and returns throughout the entire value chain.

The CEO further said that customers and other key stakeholders have been the most vital part of their business, therefore, she promised to consistently build innovative and sustainable products with their partners to create a booming agriculture sector.

Ms Morapedi said as they support the dreams of local farmers to develop the country, NDB has also found it beneficial to include innovation as it has not been explored much in agriculture.

Another reason for exploring innovation she said, was to lure the younger generation into the farming industry.

“Our youth makes up to 60 per cent of our population and we have no option but to develop and enable them to be interested in participating in farming,” she added.

She further said that as the youth were tech savvy, NDB would support and facilitate their participation in the agriculture sector by inclusion of technology and innovation such as development of applications, drone farming and green farming.

Ms Morapedi said she hopes their contribution towards the agricultural sector would see more local operations grow into multinational suppliers for the betterment of the country’s economy. ENDS