17 Aug 2020

 Local farmers play a critical role of supplying the country with agricultural produce and in the secondary production of food processing such as milling 

Answering a question in Parliament on August 14, the Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Ms Beauty Manake said her ministry continued to assist farmers with capacity building as well as ensuring that they fulfilled their mandate.

 “I must point out that our local production capacities are not yet satisfying the national demand on most of the agricultural commodities, therefore the ministry is currently planning on building local capability and capacity on agricultural production on commodities that Botswana has comparative advantage,” Ms Manake said. 

She further revealed that since the inception of the Intergrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD), her ministry had put several strategies in place to assist Batswana improve their yields. 

Ms Manake said through ISPAAD, her ministry had provided 100 per cent subsidy on inputs for subsistence farmers for up to five hectares on seeds, fertilisers, herbicides and a further 100 per cent subsidy on drought power for ploughing, harrowing and planting. 

She also said there was a 30 per cent subsidy on inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and herbicides for emerging farmers of up to 150 hetors and a 30 per cent subsidy on inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and herbicides or commercial farmers of up to 400 hectares. 

The government further assists farmers through subsidised interest rates for seasonal loans, administered through the National Development Bank (NDB) and the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), Ms Manake said. 

The cluster fencing initiative, she revealed, had seen over 72 000 hectares complete ahead of the 2020-21 ploughing season in areas such as Mosesedi, Leshibitsi, Masunga and Mookane among others. 

“In addition to subsidies on agricultural inputs, the ministry continues to provide capacity building to farmers with other stakeholders through different programmes such as twinning which is a mentorship programmes between of local government and big commercial, emerging and smallholder farmers,” Ms Manake said. 

She further revealed that the ministry played an active facilitation role on the procurement of farm produce for the COVID-19 food basket by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. 

According to Ms Manake, farm produce valued at over P14 million was directly purchased from smallholder and commercial farmers in all the 10 districts. 

Further, she said government also provided P200 million through the COVID-19 Relief Fund to the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board for purchasing grain for the strategic grain reserves. 

She added that her ministry was working on improving the agricultural climate through analysing local production capacities against the national demand and through identifying agricultural commodities where the country had a comparative advantage. 

Ms Manake told Parliament that her ministry had identified agricultural production zones across the country, and they planned to implement them through the formation of cluster farming and marketing cooperatives. 

“There are 11 sub-sectors within the Ministry of Agriculture and our pledge is to sustainably develop them to their maximum capability where they have comparative advantage, can be done taking an advantage of fish production which could be done in Chobe, Ngamiland, Okavango and different dams in the central region,” Ms Manake said. 

She also cited the plan to build a dairy belt from Otse to Ramatlabama and urban farming for perishable produce in cities such as Gaborone and Francistown, horticulture for both vegetable and fruit production in the SPEDU region, livestock and small stock production in Gantsi, Kweneng, Boteti, Kgalagadi and Nata.

Ms Manake also told Parliament that her ministry was working on farmer profiling and needs assessment, land inventory, and an economic recovery plan which she said presented good opportunity for agricultural growth in future. 

She was answering questions during Minister’s Question Time posed by Nata-Gweta Member of Parliament, Mr Polson Majaga, who had asked if farmers were able to support the country and how the ministry had assisted Batswana since the inception of ISPAAD. 

Mr Majaga had also sought to know how the ministry helped in procuring farm produce from subsistence and commercial farmers in Botswana and if the country was ready to facilitate enough food security for the whole year. Ends