05 Jul 2020

Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board views the year 2020 as a relatively good year.

This is so because the board is expecting between 20 000 and 30 000 metric tonnes of maize from local farmers.

The chief executive officer of BAMB, Mr Leonard Morakaladi said there was a significant improvement in the maize harvest since 2015 to date, reflecting an increase of 902 per cent that the BAMB purchased from local farmers.

He, however, said the country would have to import around 90 000 metric tonnes to make 120 000 metric tonnes needed to feed the country annually.

Briefing the media, Mr Morakaladi said they had already paid about P50 million to farmers during the first half of the harvesting season.

Mr Morakaladi said in 2015, BAMB only managed to acquire only 239 metric tonnes of maize, while in 2016 there was a little improvement leading to the marketing board getting 385 metric tonnes and 2017 became a good harvesting season, with the board receiving 5 392 metric tonnes.

Mr Morakaladi said 2018 registered a decline of 912 metric tonnes, as only 4 480 metric tonnes of maize were harvested as opposed to 5 392 metric tonnes in the previous year.

Mr Morakaladi said in 2019 they recorded a significant 9 216 metric tonnes, while in 2020, they experienced another drop of 2 139 metric tonnes. He however added that the figure went up again for the 2021 harvest season as already they had collected 21 429 metric tonnes of maize, which he said was the highest in the last six harvesting season.

Regarding sorghum, the CEO said the metric tonnes consistently increased. He noted that in 2015, they recorded 27 803 metric tonnes, 31 226 metric tonnes in 2016 and 33 697 in 2017.

He, however, said there was a significant decline in 2018, as they managed to source 18 182 metric tonnes of sorghum, while in 2019 the tonnage went up to 28 659 and 37 832 in 2020.

He further said this year’s harvest would enable them to export some of the sorghum and if they fail due to COVID-19, they would store the produce.

Regarding pulses, Mr Morakaladi said they were expecting to get over 19 000 metric tonnes this year, which he said would also be enough for the nation.
Concerning the strategic reserve grain (SRG), Mr Morakaladi said it could feed the nation for six months.

Mr Morakaladi appealed to farmers not contracted to BAMB to come forth and bring their produce, further advising them to group themselves and ask BAMB to come and collect their produce.

He applauded the cluster fencing programme for assisting small scale farmers who would otherwise not afford to fence their fields. Ends