07 Jul 2020

The demand for food has been rising over the years,   resulting in a mismatch between the country's demand quota and local supply of agricultural produce.

A snap survey conducted by BOPA revealed the  need for Batswana to double up their efforts in an endeavor to attain self-sufficiency in food production.

There is need to bridge the gap between demand and supply to scale down the hefty import bill and over reliance on neighbouring countries more especially for horticultural produce.

This comes in the wake of Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Dr Edwin Dikoloti's advice to the nation to step up efforts in food production given the growing population.

The minister recently said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had projected that by 2050, population and economic growth would result in a doubling of demand for food globally.

Television personality, Steve Harvey also recently said in a television phone-in program that Botswana beef is one of the best in the world as its taste is beyond reproach thus Batswana should take advantage of the value chain of the beef industry and rake in money.

Assistant manager of Mahube Shoppers, Ms Tebogo Kebabonye told BOPA in an interview that they were experiencing short supply of agricultural produce from local suppliers who were not able to meet the shop’s weekly demand quota.

She said they tried as much as possible to buy from local farmers as an empowerment drive for agricultural produce such as cereals and horticultural products, adding at this point of time the shop was not getting enough cabbage from local suppliers. She noted that  a supplier from Bokaa had rescued the situation but decried lack of consistency.

Ms Kebabonye shared that the demand for food however declined during the lock down period because people were receiving food relief baskets.

Statistical evidence illustrates that mahube shoppers’ customers buy more food items  specifically agricultural produce hence justifying that the country needs to do more with regard to the issue of food self-sufficiency.

However, between  December 2019 and January 2020 a total of 66 430 customers visited the shop to buy food items with each spending an average of P54.78.

During the period between January and February 2020 a total of 64 005 people visited the shop of which each spent an average of P56.18 while between February and  March 2020 a total of 83 449 customers visited the shop and each spent an average of P65.71.

As for March to April 2020 a total of 32 406 people visited the shop of which each spent an average of P115.86 while from April to May a total of 41 870 shoppers spent an average of P108.52 each.

A total of 41 450 shoppers visited the store from May to June 2020 and spent an average of P80.43 each.

She said they also bought vegetables from schools as a move to embrace local products, pointing they procured sorghum meal from a Mochudi based company Seboana and Sebethane mabele meal from Thabakgosi investment in Tsetsebjwe.

She said Batswana suppliers were not able to meet the shop’s weekly demand quota, adding they ordered stock on weekly basis and within a space of a week all the stock would be bought indicating that food items were in high demand.

Southern region’s crop production officer, Mr Zachariah Mmapetla said the area under his jurisdiction had about 300 000 hectares of arable land allocated by land boards within the region but only 83 714.05 hectares were ploughed during the 2019/2020 ploughing season accounting for 27.9 per cent of the ploughed land within the region.

As for the 2018/19 ploughing season farmers tilled 62 860.04 hectares representing about 21 per cent of the allocated arable land.

As for the ploughing season 2017/18, he said, 27 831.29 hectares were ploughed that account for 9.3 per cent of the allocated arable land. 

Mr Mmapetla said almost 60 per cent of the land allocated for arable farming was not developed, noting that fertile land holders were the elderly people who were not actively farming hence imploring owners to lease the land to the investors and youth.

He argued that such a move would help bridge the gap between demand and supply of agricultural produce.

He added  that a total of 17 975 arable farmers ploughed in the 2019/20 ploughing season.

He thus encouraged farmers to plough drought resistant crops such as beans and sorghum, among others noting 80 per cent of the southern block of farmers plough maize which is vulnerable to harsh climatic conditions.

He explained that if rains were not sufficient there would be scarcity of produce as maize does not do well under such conditions, adding rains that shifted from November to January were not helping the situation maize would not mature in winter.

Mr Mmapetla  shared that winter crops were sunflower and millet, and most of the farmers do not properly look after their fields resulting in low yields thus reducing agricultural produce that lessens food security.  

He opined that if all the tilled land was well looked after, it could help the nation realise its goal of being self-sufficient, and encouraged arable land holders to de-bush and lease the land to young farmers.

He said if the 300 000 hectares were optimally utilised it could feed the whole nation citing that Pandamatenga farms, located in the North-West District ploughed only 40 000 hectares but contributed over 80 per cent of the total grain produced in Botswana.

Expectation is that through Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD), he said farmers should be producing enough to meet the country’s food demand.

A renowned master farmer based at Mosisedi farms, Mr John Phirinyane said he was expecting a bumper harvest owing to late torrential rains.

He said even though rains were late during the 2019/20 ploughing season they were satisfactory, adding he ploughed maize on December 10, 2019 following the first rains on December 04, 2019.

Mr Phirinyane who owns a number of commercial farming blocks in Mosisedi said it was imperative to learn from other farmers, saying as farmers of the southern block they aimed to feed the nation to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.

He however cited challenges such as quelea birds and baboons which he said were a menace.

He said COVID-19 lock down also prevented them to properly look after their farms as they could have hired people for weeding. Nonetheless, he said the pandemic taught the country that self-sufficiency in food  production was a necessity.

Mr Phirinyane ploughed 300 hectares and leased other blocks of farms to other commercial farmers.

He said farming was an exciting yet a highly challenging business, 

“Farming is my passion and I have been doing it for a considerable number of years.

 

I have had a lot of challenges especially with Botswana’s weather conditions but I am so committed. I am so passionate about food production. We are able to produce sorghum and beans and supply to BAMB,” he said.