09 Feb 2020

Parliament has adopted a motion calling on government to consider a comprehensive Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) review.

Presenting the motion in Parliament on February 7, Member of Parliament for Sefhare-Ramokgonami, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang indicated that when ISPAAD was introduced in 2008, it was meant to increase food production in the country and make the country self-sufficient in food.

He said therefore subsistence farmers must be allowed the option of planting in rows or broadcasting or a mixture of the two methods.

Dr Gobotswang said ISPAAD had not recorded significant  harvests, adding that currently there was also no evidence that ISPAAD had increased crop production in general and yields per hectare. 

“When it was commissioned, ISPAAD was supposed to produce about forty 50kg bags per hectare, but currently dry land subsistence agriculture produces two to four 50kg bags per hectare on average,” said Dr Gobotswang.

The Sefhare/Ramokgonami legislator further noted that farmers in his constituency had indicated that they were using the programme out of desperation, as they did not have the means to hire draught power, indicating that they were frustrated that since using ISPAAD they hardly harvested anything.

He said farmers had testified that in the last season they harvested hundred and forty 50kg bags from two hectares when using the broadcasting method of planting.

Commenting, Member of Parliament for Francistown South, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi concurred with the MP that although row planting method was easier, its main role was to make intercultural operations easier in the farm.

He said broadcast method had been practiced for many years and fed Batswana for a long period of time.

Mr Mmolotsi said government encouraged row planting because under such a method, farmers could easily weed and spray their fields, but with broadcast method farmers could not easily do so. 

He also noted that the rainfall patterns should be considered when using row planting method. 

Mr Mmolotsi stated that with unreliable and erratic rainfalls in the country, broadcast method would work for Batswana.

For his part, Selebi Phikwe West legislator, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse also supported the motion, expressing a concern at the ‘collapse of agriculture’ in Botswana. 

He said agriculture had contributed significantly to the country’s GDP in the past than presently.

Mr Keorapetse said the collapse of agriculture in the country could not be liable to erratic rainfalls, but rather agricultural programmes that were not properly supported.

The legislator said Botswana needed to invest in agricultural research and change agriculture and crop production ways. 

He said the methods currently adhered to were not yielding results, hence the need to provide options and new methods to improve the sector.

Mr Kgoberego Nkawana of Selebi Phikwe East also supported the motion, saying farmers should be allowed to use both broadcast and row planting methods. 

He argued that broadcast method also produced results, whereas row planting was highly mechanised, which he said was not beneficial to a farmer in the rural areas. ENDS